Thank you, Alison, for pointing in this direction. Creeley - in and through
the essay - was clearly trying to cope with the coming presence of death in
his own being. & yet done in such a generous way through a collegiality with
the work of other poets, including Whitman. Indeed moving.
Stephen V
> For those who haven't seen it - a wonderful and moving essay by Robert
> Creeley - "Reflections on Whitman in Age"
>
> At http://www.vqronline.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/9080
>
> "Whitman¹s ³call¹d back² is quite other than Emily Dickinson¹s brief, last
> note to Louise and Fanny Norcross, sent shortly before her death, ³Little
> Cousins, Called Back, Emily.² One needs something wherewith to make place
> for whatever a life has been, its human summary if nothing else. Did it
> matter? Was it all phantasmagoria? Who was finally there? The roll and turn
> of the physical waves, their ceaseless repetition, the seeming return of
> each so particular, the same and yet not the same‹this is the ³call,² recall
> ( recoil ), he has come to, an indeterminant spill of memories ³By any grand
> ideal tried, intentionless, the whole a nothing.² But one hopes to have been
> included even so, to have mattered, taken place, been part of, done ‹as one
> says in this utterly merciless country‹ something ."
>
> Best
>
> A
>
>
>
> Alison Croggon
>
> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
> Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
|