Ha, well, I can agree, but as always with a possible caveat riding
shotgun.
I will say that it never occurred to me to write poetry until I took a
university course on Modernist literature from Louis Dudek, who was an
important Canadian poet, although I did not know it at the time. A
friend in the course actually did write poetry & that was (in 1959) an
exciting discovery (geez, if he can...), but also we got to read
Pound, Eliot, etc. It was a beginning, & certainly got me studying
those works, & then finding the New Americans & then the Canadians on
my own.
And somehow trying to write.
The problem(s) with some CW courses have to do with just what the
professors decide to present, & also what the student expect, & how
far they are willing to go in terms of really learning craft. Which is
probably true of all courses, when you think about it.....
Doug
On 27-Jul-09, at 1:53 AM, Glen Roy PHILLIPS wrote:
> But really, many authors acknowledge that an admired English teacher
> (in
> addition to discovering literature itself) was at least highly
> influential
> in arousing or encouraging their commitment to becoming writers, and
> even
> poets. It certainly was a key factor for me at the time when I made
> career
> decisions.
Douglas Barbour
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Latest books:
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Each leaf a runnel the
roofs now skiffs in green
I’ve never done anything
but begin.
Lisa Robertson
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