Terrific essay from Tim. Not sure people wouldn't want to talk about it.
Poetry needs constant refreshment from mavericks like the ones Tim listed. In the 1960s experimental poetry connected with youth subculture so people could encounter it without passing through a university classroom. Not sure if that's true anymore. It means the tradition of AG poetry is like a demographically ageing bubble whose younger practitioners are invariably clever ex-students if not actually practising academics. Maybe we need to be humble and hope that new subcultures, perhaps with a more modern ethnic mix, will generate their own artforms, and some of them will be poetic...
But I mustn't over-romanticise. No reason why certain kinds of maverick vitality couldn't come from within the academy. Many practicing academics have far more interesting backgrounds than I do!
I think academization of AG poetry has its regrettable aspects but it also has many practical benefits. Two that spring to mind: Almost all UK readings by non-UK poets are in effect funded by the visiting poet coming to the UK to take part in some academic bash. Without that connection we would never get to hear them. And the literary history of AG poetry is a subject that perhaps only academics will ever have the resources able to examine methodically. (as opposed to the completely un-methodical efforts of enthusiasts such as AD or some others of us here.)
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