I totally recommend (re) reading Lawrence's poems. There is an excellent
"Selected" with a great essay by Kenneth Rexroth that came out some years ago
- which can probably be found through an OUP site. Lawrence's "integrity of
intent" has always made me - as a reader - kind of skip the old fashioned
"perfection of artifice" questions and relish his struggle to work through
genuine issues. Even when his boat has unshaven edges, it's usually going
somewhere that I value knowing. The "Death" poems, I forget the exact title,
are quite incredible, brave.
Cheers,
Stephen Vincent
In a message dated 4/23/00 7:33:44 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:
<< >Doug - Apologies, somehow missed your message in this thread. However, I
>have to disagree that W.E. Williams was "prescient" in his summation of the
>worth of DHL's poetry. I was leafing through the book last night, and still
>remain unimpressed.
>
>Later in this thread, Douglas Clark remarks that he first read DHL's "Snake"
>as a schoolboy and it made an immediate impression on him. As an adolescent,
>I was (of course!?) taken with "Figs". Indeed, it was the only poem of his
>that immediately sprang to mind. Read it last night and was much taken with
>it's overt (if not extreme) sensuality/sexuality. But I still do not
>consider it a "good" poem. Reading it, my fingers were itching to take a
>blue pencil to it and start editing ruthlessly (vide my comments last night
>on DHL's unwillingness to revise).
>Cheers,
>Viv
Viv
I wouldn't want to set up shop as a defender of Lawrence's poems, beyond
the few words I originally posted. I suspect I would want to 'edit' them
too, but that's from a position nearly a century on, & having read so much
fine open form poetry since. I think the sensuality of vision comes through
despite what we might call the 'flatness' of some of the lines. But then, I
often itch to 'edit' other poets I admire on the whole, too. The best thing
to do in that situation is to relax, read them as best you can for what
they are doing not what you would do. At least so I suspect...
Doug >>
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