>From: Michael Snider <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
> poetics <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Poetry in PROSPECT
>Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 21:39:15 -0400
>
>
>On Wednesday, July 11, 2001, at 03:30 PM, sevanthi ragunathan wrote:
>
>>But I'd ask, to what extent is having memorized something an index of
>>its
>>worth or the extent of it's been appreciated? Sure, poems in fixed
>>forms
>>are easier to remember than poems in open forms. For that matter, tv ad
>>jingles are more memorable (in a literal sense) than poems, and I have
>>plenty of poems I loathe in my head and plenty of poems I love not
>>memorized. I don't know that memorization is the right index... by that
>>measure, limericks are probably the favorite poems of all!
>
>memorability is certainly not the only measure, nor the most important
>one. But to have been moved by something sufficiently to have tkaen the
>trouble to memorize it surely means something
Sure, but I'm not talking about there being other or more important
measures. I'm talking about the extent to which what's successfully
memorized is a function of tons of things that have nothing to do with being
moved. Length is one example.
>>I'd also ask who the best selling poets of recent times have been. My
>>guess
>>would be Allen Ginsberg and Maya Angelou. I'm actually fascinated by
>>which
>>poets people who don't read much poetry have on their shelves, and I'd
>>say
>>the results are: Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Nikki Giovanni, Audre
>>Lorde, Maya Angelou, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sylvia Plath. Now, I can't
>>bear
>>any of them, for the most part, but these are the poets I see ordinary
>>people actually reading (outside of school).
>
>I'd have to ask, "How far out of school?" They're certainly read more
>by English majors and PoliSci majors on the Left and the various kinds
>of Cultural Studies majors. Such people, other than poets, are the
>ones who are most likely to read poetry at all, and I would not be
>surprised to find these are the "best-selling" poets.
>Get a little farther from the schools and, at least in my experience,
>it's very different.
Actually, I was talking specifically about people who had very few poetry
books on their shelves, which Harold Bloom aside, does not include the ranks
of English majors yet!
It isn't people who have degrees in Cultural Studies who go for Nikki
Giovanni--I'd guess they're reading Thylias Moss or Haryette Mullen, not
that I know any of them--it's people who've barely heard of Cultural
Studies. Look at who is sold by street vendors in NY, i.e. people who
really won't stock something on their tables if it doesn't sell. Look at
which poets appeal to a non-literary audience. It's poets who talk in
accessible terms about issues that aren't discussed as much in mainstream
media, and who therefore attract an audience of people eager to hear these
things discussed. The poets conduct their verse almost entirely in open
forms.
Let me say again that I can't stand them, for the most part, but they are
the Longfellows de nos jours.
>> When you talk about people
>>"buying" poetry, I have no doubt that more people bought (in whatever
>>sense)
>>Allen Ginsberg than bought Anthony Hecht, though my own tastes are
>>Hecht-ward. And certainly, I've seen a marked preference for
>>contemporary
>>poetry over pre-20th century poetry.
>
>Actually, I prefer Ginsberg to Hecht, though I don't think either of
>them anything special. Do you think either of them will be in print 100
>years from now?.
Oh, it depends on what axes people have to grind 100 years from now. I
think Hecht *should* be in print, I'll say that.
>>So, I'm not sure I buy your argument, even though I as a reader (I
>>glance at
>>my bookshelves), have an incredible bias towards poets who use form.
>>Frankly, I'd take James Lasdun over Levertov, and Marilyn Hacker over
>>pretty
>>much everyone alive, but my sphere of influence is negligible. : )
>
>Don't know Lasdun -- can you point me to a good collection?
I liked Woman Police Officer in Elevator.
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