Especially this bit, Dom, yes: "No-one reads a poem, even a very abstract
one, without having or seeking some idea about what's "going on" in and
around it."
And I'll take the extreme position that no decipherable poem's not a
narrative. I suppose including Ashbery, if one wanted to invade his head
sufficiently to get to the blow-blowing-blown bits he gathers whilst
watching tv and writing poems.
Best,
Judy
2009/8/7 Dominic Fox <[log in to unmask]>
> "Narrative", in this context, seems to me to be a bit of a stalking-horse
> in the way that "melody" is in some discussions about modern classical
> music. What I mean is that the presence or absence of narrative *as such* is
> seldom really the issue; what's more at issue is the protocols of narration,
> and who or what fills the posts of narrator, character, listener and so on.
>
> "A voice barely attached to a withered mortal remnant whispers to itself in
> the gloom about the impossibility of dying and whispering about it at the
> same time" is a narrative scenario. "Assembled fragments of speech are drawn
> together into a kind of Calder mobile, around which flit the ghosts of
> conversations between eminent persons about ideas and life" is a narrative
> scenario. "Here I am, telling you a story about something that happened to
> some people I made up, about which I have mixed feelings and expect you will
> too" is a narrative scenario. No-one reads a poem, even a very abstract one,
> without having or seeking some idea about what's "going on" in and around
> it. But some poems have a stronger "here I am" about them than others, and
> some have more formally delineated expectations of the reader; and there has
> been for some decades a preference for withdrawing from conventionally
> regulated engagement (like going on "dates" with people) in search of
> alternative protocols. Perhaps we've tried most of the interesting
> alternatives by now; but I don't see that this means that we should return,
> slightly sheepishly, to older conventions as if by default.
>
> Dominic
>
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