PS Roger
although this is wandering off the subject, I was surprised to see no
mention of the recent book of politician's favourite poems here.
Gordon Brown managed to choose something by a sociologist that even
its author insists is +not+ a poem, while Tony Blair chose:
'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke.
It's always intrigued me that Blair, when PM, took a 'personal
interest' (quote from his office) in the appointment of Motion as
Ted's successor as Laureate.
Best
Dave
On 18/04/2008, Roger Day <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The villain in the piece is Ted Hughes. Did he for love of country
> bequeath his goods to the people? He did not. He went for the fast
> buck and a big one. Ted was a bit of a wide boy, always on the make.
> Being a farmer or a poet laureate won't net you much money these days.
>
> The Americans have more money than us, and soon it will be the turn of
> the Chinese. Most art objects are moving East these days, either to
> china or Russia. Their taste is as probably as good as the next schmoo
> with too much money and a life spent dealing in containerised geegaws.
> meh. So it goes.
>
> Your first paragraph is ironic: I see you and Marjorie as being very
> similar in outlook. Differing outcomes maybe, but similar outlook.
>
>
> Roger
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 11:57 PM, David Bircumshaw
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > I knew this morning that I was too tired to put things well.
> >
> > I do agree that Perloff's way of looking at things is too one-sided. I
> > particularly distrust her seeming belief that poetry belongs to
> > 'specialists' for validation.
> >
> > We went to watch a re-showing of an old Wim Wenders' film tonight -
> > 'The State of Things' - the one where the avant-garde film-maker
> > discovers in the end that his project was financed by laundered money.
> >
> > While I learnt today that in 1997 the late Ted Hughes (Poet by Royal
> > Appointment) sold his own archives (all 2 and half tons of them) to
> > the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
> > The purchase for the acquisition came from a bequest of Coca-Cola
> > shares.
> >
> > It's the real thing. Laughter, that is.
>
--
David Bircumshaw
Website and A Chide's Alphabet http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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