>Keston, all I meant was that prosody can be considered a discipline in its
>infancy
Curious to know how this can be so - having struggled through Aristotle's
strictures on measure, trying to memorise all the Greek terms (which I
instantly forgot, of course). Prosody has been discussed at such length
and for so many centuries that perhaps it might be more accurate to say
it is in its second infancy.
This discussion makes me think a bit of Celan's comment that technique is
like hygiene, something which doesn't require comment but should be
simply taken for granted: that it's where you begin. If you're curious
about poetry, and enjoy it, then you come into contact with very many
ways of varying and emphasising the rhythms of language, and in the hands
of a skilled poet therein are very many pleasures. From John Skelton to
Robert Creeley (who, perhaps, are not very different at times - )
This regret?
Nothing's left.
Skin's old,
story's told -
but still touch,
selfed body,
wants other,
another mother
(Creeley)
It is generall
To be mortall:
I have well espyde
No man may him hyde
>From Deth holow eyed
(Skelton)
Though there are probably more pertinent comparisons - I chose these at
random. Which is simply to say that it's clear to me, when I read
Creeley, that's he's drawing from some very ancient prosodical ideas and
bending them to his own usages, with a lightness and deftness that I envy
greatly. Others _break_ older prosodies, which can be equally exciting
(Prynne, Hill, Ashbery, Pound, &c&c). What bores me witless is no
prosodical technique at all, which is perhaps where the question of the
Ear comes in. The joy for me is in the invention, which is one of the
reasons I so like George Herbert and Donne, and also why Pound at his
best makes me gasp - and why I find myself also enjoying Prynne, who has
a very sure grasp indeed of prosodical devices.
Paz has some wonderful things to say about rhythm, but I can't find him
at the moment - his idea is that poems expose history for what it is, ie,
time. For rhythm is a function of time. (Also makes me think of
Tarkovsky's book Sculpting in Time, which I like for the title as much as
anything else).
Best
Alison
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