So I finally went & cruised the long article. And it is interesting,
with some sense of poetry outside of Britain.
I find one of his controversial moments when he discusses the
Coleridge distinction between Imagination & Fancy, & then says this
about poets he feels are only 'fanciful': 'For poetry, it helps to
explain why poems created without a basis in feeling, however artful
and intelligent, are finally unsatisfying. At bottom they are
mechanistic, aggregative, fanciful; one thinks, for example, of
Ashbery, Anne Carson, J H Prynne, Jorie Graham and John Kinsella.'
Really? Are they? I would certainly argue that Carson has achieved
works of imagination, & Kinsella has played between the two, depending
on which works of his one reads. He's hard on Ashbery compared with
O'Hara, but I would argue, again, that in some poems Ashbery achieves
imagination.
But of course, this has to do with what each of us does as reader &
writer....
Doug
On 8-Dec-08, at 5:43 PM, andrew burke wrote:
> Laurie Smith's article in *Magma 42*<http://magmapoetry.com/archive/magma-42/
> >,
> '*The New Imagination*<http://magmapoetry.com/archive/magma-42/articles/the-new-imagination/
> >',
> explores whether truly great poetry might soon emerge in the UK for
> the
> first time in many years. It's an excellent article – well researched,
> controversial, and passionate.
Douglas Barbour
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
Latest books:
Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
Why have you driven through my heart?
Make that what.
Artie Gold
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