Jeepers, I've been meaning to write a well-considered, measured, erudite,
moderately show-offy contribution to this thread so I could remove my
name from the subject line, but you Wystan demonstrate it's not necessary
to go to so much trouble. Thanks.
Mairead (PhD2)
On Fri, 6 Sep 2002, Wystan Curnow (FOA ENG) wrote:
> Welcome to the living archive! The Kent/Henry/Gabe twitch action.
> Trigger words include 'Silliman', which instantly change the subject
> that old archive-chesnut-thread :ACADEMIC POETRY. What I don't know
> are the trigger words to shut it off.
> Wystan (PhD)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Henry Gould [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, 6 September 2002 7:15 a.m.
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: academic poetry (& thanks to Mairead Byrne)
>
>
> I think that if you want to search for what's new, or good, or important in
> poetry (why not?), you have to avoid these CATEGORICAL TRAPS, like:
>
> -- who's inside or outside the "academy" [remember, the academy is not a
> thinking animal]
> -- who's popular around certain cliques or journals [ the buddy system is
> not shaped by independent judgement]
> -- rationalizations made (for writing) based on these previous 2 categories
> [this is a minor industry in itself]
>
> You have to start from scratch, in other words:
> -- you have to develop a feel for a language and its poetry over a long
> span of time, and recognize certain "flowerings" (Elizabethan,
> Metaphysical, Restoration, American Renaissance, Homer, dolce stil nuova,
> etc) that continue to serve as instigators, models, benchmarks.
> -- you have to ask, what is this poetry I'm reading doing with the
> contemporary language we speak? How is it addressing both
> poetry-in-itself, and more basic or immediate human concerns? What is it
> trying to say and how is it saying it? Is it original? Does it strike me
> as authentic? Does it move me, charm me, make me laugh, cry, enlighten
> me? Does it present anything really new? Is it facile, complacent, glib
> "writing" writing?
> -- you have to ask, am I responding to poetry in an immediate way, or is my
> interest driven and mediated by my own relation to PO-BIZ?? Do I need to
> take a bath?
>
> Henry
>
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