Ah yes, Lewis Turco’s The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics; I
remember it well. It was useful once upon a time for students who
wanted to learn something about the trad forms, & Turco certainly
covered the lot.
His own poetry seemed (& seems, to me) trapped in them, though.
It's always that mater of taste I guess: whose poetry would I rather
read? Olson's say, or Turco's? Or, my choices against his: Levertov,
Webb, Adamson, Bunting, to name a very few. Note that all of them can
utilize trad forms if they want to, but all chose t open form in a
variety of extraordinary ways.
Doug
On 22-Jun-10, at 12:39 AM, Uche Ogbuji wrote:
> Forgot to also mention that Lewis Turco is the featured poet on The
> Nervous
> Breakdown this week. It includes a poem "John" and a self-
> interview, both
> excellent. The self-interview offers much-needed perspective and
> history
> for one of the less heralded branches of modern poetry.The poem,
> "John," is
> a contemplation of the utterly grand, and the infinitesimal.
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
because I want to die
writing Haiku
or, better,
long lines, clean and syllabic as knotted bamboo. Yes!
Phyllis Webb
|