JiscMail Logo
Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities

Help for POETRYETC Archives


POETRYETC Archives

POETRYETC Archives


POETRYETC@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Monospaced Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

POETRYETC Home

POETRYETC Home

POETRYETC  2001

POETRYETC 2001

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

Review of Speech! Speech! by Geoffrey Hill

From:

domfox <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and poetics <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 23 Jan 2001 00:16:25 -0000

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (74 lines)

As I have posted this review to amazon.com, they now think it's their
property. Well, they can fight me for it. Anyway:

* * *

"Bug'rit! Millenium hand and shrimp!"

"Speech! Speech!" continues much in the mode of "The Triumph of Love":
praise and lament "in different voices", a polyphonous essay into the
stresses and strengths of the English language, its potential for wrought
honesty as well as casual deception.

The poem's ethical obsession is with pitch, as opposed to tone: the making
and upholding, in language, of difficult distinctions as opposed to - so far
as it can be held distinct from - the equitable imperative smoothing-over of
disputes and differends (the "healing" snake-oil of much contemporary
political rhetoric). In illustration of this, as in obedience to it,
"Speech! Speech!" bristles with split hairs. The defamatory satirical genius
of the poem lies in its outrageous conflations, a wit that works
insidiously, like guilt, by association. But its moral animus ("animus is
what I home on, even as to pitch" - section 90) is focussed on those parts
of speech where one is surprised to see distinctions being made, or remade -
surprised that they should (still) be thought or seen to matter.

There are many places in the poem where it becomes difficult, important, to
ascertain what is being driven at, from what angle (or angles) and with what
force. So, in section 57, the speaker beckons:

Show you something. Shakespeare's elliptical
late syntax renders clear the occlusions, calls us
to account...

The reader of "Speech! Speech!" is similarly drawn to the places where
Hill's elliptical verse indicates, but does not show, unaccounted-for
ommissions, exclusions, losses. We are ordered to "[j]udge the distance"
between generations, to take the measure of what Hill sees as the abrupt -
overnight - pillage and erasure of a common heritage - "common" in a sense
to be distinguished from, but not opposed to, that of "demotic". This is
arguable, of course, and the poem argues with itself about it, about the
meaning of "democracy" and the condescension of "the egalitarian
anti-elitist SUN" (a widely-circulated British newspaper, whose language
Hill parodies passim). Nevertheless, Hill seems genuinely shocked by the way
that English culture has changed over the past fifty years, and is clearly
contemptuous of the ability of electronic databases and the "world-surfing
quote research / unquote of your average junk maestro" (cheers!) to replace
the "forms of understanding, far from despicable, / and furthest now, as
they are most despised" he celebrated in "The Triumph of Love" (section
CXIX). His argument may be judged reactionary, but it is passionately made.

I have found it difficult to receive the verses of "Speech! Speech!" as Hill
says they were intended - as praise-songs. What is being praised is
presumably the faculty the poem itself aspires to, that of fashioning a
language fit for human use out of the "acoustic din" of an indifferent mass
culture. Or, rather, what is both praised and petitioned by "Speech!
Speech!" is that part of ourselves that might find a use for such a
language, that is too proud and attentive to be satisfied with less - that
is healthy enough to curse. But sheer celebratory delight (not, for once,
miscalled) is achieved only in brief epiphanic flushes, as if by concession:
for the most part the dominant, almost ineluctable mood of the poem is one
of sadness and anger.

"Speech! Speech!" is a poem to spend time with - more time than I have spent
so far. Notice is given on the inside sleeve that it is a "tour de force",
and I would not dissent from that; however, there is much about it that will
not come immediately, and may not come at all until the last measures of
one's own reading (such is the messianic hope of interpretation). Off you
go, then...

* * *

Note: review title is a reference to a Terry Pratchett character, the beggar
Foul 'Ole Ron, who is known for muttering incomprehensibly and getting into
fights with himself.

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager