Hi Geraldine,
>a complex of social/ cultural/ political/ economic factors <
I've always thought, somehow, that epic narrative is now served
by film, the lyric cry by popular music, surrealism by cartoons or
comedy . . . in a way that has made the relevent poetries somewhat
redundant over the last century. Look at the popularity of Star
Wars (epic narrative plus myth), more recently Gladiator (historical
epic). The same needs are being served by different media to
some extent. And there's so much of it out there.
Personally, I can say that singer-songwriters have had more
influence on me over the years than poetry -- or at least an equal
influence. If it hadn't been for Peter Gabriel I'd never have become
a writer . . . . . strange but true.
Comparatively speaking, poets of the 19th c. were working in
tremendous isolation, both socially and nationally. Did either
Wordsworth or Tennyson or Dickinson hear a note of Beethoven?
It could be argued that poets of that century and before were
'tribal', to that extent. Newsreel and recorded music have opened
things up . . . archeology has opened up the global past . . . .
psychology the endless internal glance . . . . and then came The
Waste Land. A heap of broken images.
The world is too much with us :-)
Andy
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