>Don Paterson has a wonderful quote on this in his
>>essay "The Dilemma of Being A Peot" [sic], but
>>unfortunately I don't have it to hand. I'll try to
>>dig it out tonight. The core of his point is that "If
>>you start with an *idea* for a poem [a purely
>>intellectual starting-point as opposed to a deeper
>>seed crystal of the kind I mean], you end up with a
>>lousy poem".
Richard Hugo wrote a wonderful essay on this years ago.
It's in his amazing book of lectures & essays
on poetry & writing: THE TRIGGERING TOWN (Norton).
Here's a splinter from it:
"Young poets find it difficult to free themselves
from the initiating subject. The poet puts down the title:
"Autumn Rain". He finds two or three good lines about
Autumn rain. Then things start to break down."
and, (from a Forster novel)
"How do I know what I think until I see what I've said?"
It's not just young poets though, who rely on titles
and subject matter.
best
Anthony
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