"Supremacy" seems a bit strong. Has to do with force of arms?
This is I think pretty silly. Most verse on both sides of the
Atlantic has been pretty feeble, but that's always so, and a lot of
the big names are pretty hollow. If people still read poetry in 20
years, let alone 200, what will they make of Billy Collins?
That said, a few whose absence is noteworthy, and a personal
favorite. Tennyson, Browning, Landor, Hopkins, Hardy, Ford Maddox
Ford. In comparison, you might want to look at some pre-modernist
Americans like Longfellow, Lanier, Markham, Robinson, Lowell (the
first one, but the second aint much either, imho).
I'm obviously not trying to be encyclopedic here, and, except for
Ford (see his wonderful last book, the serial poem Buckshee), I've
avoided listing the near-contemporary, but you get the picture.
Mark
At 12:09 PM 8/25/2009, you wrote:
>I will not say that what you say is not so. My piece was arguing for the
>supremacy of the US influence historically, rather than to dismiss
>certain UK poets whose practice benefitted from High Modernism.
>
>
>
>On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:32:18 +0100, Sally Evans
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >I think what has happened to British Poetry in the time stated is it has
> >culturally split through the regions and countries that make up the
>British
> >Isles. Scottish poetry was really vibrant in the 20th c so especially
>was
> >Scottish Gaelic poetry. David Jones as an English speaking Welsh poet
>and
> >Basil Bunting as a northern poet are cases in point.
> >Sally Evans
> >http://www.desktopsallye.com
> >http://www.poetryscotland.co.uk
> >http://www.brokenholmes.co.uk
> >tel UK 01877 339449
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Douglas Barbour" <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 4:11 PM
> >Subject: Re: "Has British Poetry had any significance since
>Wordsworth?"
> >
> >
> >> Some rhetorical force, perhaps, but I would wonder nevertheless.
> >>
> >> Even within the possibilities of innovation, I cant see not
>mentioning at
> >> least the major works of Basil Bunting & David Jones.
> >>
> >> Yes, poetry hasn't much 'place' outside of all the poets, but I'm not
> >> sure it has been as present as either fiction or drama since I dont
>know
> >> when...
> >>
> >> And there has been Britain's own more or less 'language' group(s)
>over
> >> the past 40 years or so, with its effect.
> >>
> >> Doug
> >> On 25-Aug-09, at 4:30 AM, Jeffrey Side wrote:
> >>
> >>> New blog post:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> "Has British Poetry had any significance since Wordsworth?"
> >>>
> >>> This may seem an outlandish question, but I think it has some
>force
> >>> behind it. Of course, the influence of Wordsworth on contemporary
> >>> British mainstream poetry need hardly be stressed, and I have
>written
> >>> extensively about this elsewhere. It is because of this influence
>that
> >>> most of the celebrated British poetry of the Twentieth Century
>tended
> >>> towards mediocrity when compared to American poetry of the
>same
> >>> period.....
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> http://jeffrey-side.blogspot.com/
> >>>
> >>
> >> Douglas Barbour
> >> [log in to unmask]
> >>
> >> 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
> >>
> >> There are as many fools in the world as there are people.
> >>
> >> Sigmund Freud
> >>
|