Interesting essay on Larkin and the morality of poets at Poetry Daily. Not
sure if I agree with some of his contentions - "we, the wise and tolerant
poetry reading audience", say, begs a few questions, though it must be at
least partly ironic - but provoking all the same on a few old chestnuts -
especially on the gender questions at the end. Reminds me that I once
started a female version of Notes From Underground.
"When Larkinıs defenders and detractors find themselves debating whether the
poet can speak ³for us² whether he is, in essence, ³normal² theyıre
acting out a script written by the poet himself, who all along has been less
interested in aphoristic wisdom than in dramatizing the individualıs
emotional relationship to the group. Larkinıs poems demand a personal
connection, and responding to them with disgust is every bit as personal as
responding to them with love. Pound, in many ways a less complicated poet
than Larkin, never forces us to relate to his art in this way when we ask,
in reference to Pound, ³Can a bad man be a good poet?² we arenıt covertly
wondering about our own normalcy. But when we ask the same question about
Larkin, weıre often really saying, ³Could we really be anything like this ?²
He needs to be bad so that we can stay good."
http://www.poems.com/essaorr.htm
Best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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