Dr Seuss was my first formative influence. When I read him to my kids,
I realised how fabulously inventive he is.
There's no such thing as formless poetry. The concept makes absolutely
no sense to me. I don't understand why form only applies to rhyme:
Douglas has mentioned Pound, one of the great workers of form in the
last century. Maybe only Auden challenges him in terms of prosodic
control. (Try writing lines like that). I'm sure that's why Frost
admired him.
I'm not sure whether art is possible without the tensions of
constraint. What's boring, with any form, is when a practitioner only
works within his/her chosen form, and doesn't struggle against it.
xA
On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 7:13 AM, Douglas Barbour
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> On 23-Jun-10, at 1:01 PM, Uche Ogbuji wrote:
>>>
>> So do you find most poets writing in free verse not boring?
>
> Didnt say that, Uche; a lot of them are.
>>
>> I find it hard to credit that Dr. Seuss's work ever came close to breaking
>> the constraints of the alphabet.
>>
>> It would be like calling Shakespeare a free verser every time he used
>> catalexis.
>
> just a little joke there...
>
> on the other hand, Olson has an essay on Shakespeare that's very
> interesting....
>
> I take Catherine's points seriously. There are some poets for whom the trad
> forms are freeing, & lead to relevation, but for many they do not (not to
> say that just writing another free verse lyric so conventionalis any
> better).
>
> But I will stick with Creeley's take on that, & also (although it's for
> prose too) Delany's ('Put in opposition to "style," there is no such thing
> as "content.")
>
> Okay, I love aphoristic takes...
>
> Doug
> 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
>
--
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
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