Amazingly, Candice said:
"...and since we are not living in oral-cultural times or places, the forms
that served as mnemonic devices no longer _serve_."
That's a pretty heavy "WE", Candice. (You there, Erminia?)
Maybe the oral is passe at Duke, but it certainly isn't among the
poet-teemed streets of East St. Louis, Harlem, Bronx, or Watts, where the
mnemonic devices of meter and rhyme are doing more than a little well. And
last I heard, the poetry slam scene was more than a bit lively. And the
Cowboy poetry festival attracts tens of thousands yearly. These may not be
*your* prosodo-culturo-cup-o-tea-o, but... well, I guess you get my meaning.
Hey, I think you should have Fred Jameson do a special SAQ issue on the
poetic-aesthetic of rap/hip-hop, with an introductory essay by Barbara
Hernstein-Smith!
Kent
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
|