Keston -
You said : "It seems to me at least as likely that a Prynne poem will
be widely misunderstood, as one by Raworth (does anybody -understand- Her
Weasels Wild Returning? or For the Monogram?)"
Absolutely - in fact, I've probably misunderstood great swathes of Prynne
in my time. I think what I was getting at was that Prynne-emulators (sounds
like some software patch) tend to reproduce the distinctive Prynnean
cadences, complete with their implications of high moralism, which is what
irritates me (in fact, they are often far less subversive than JHP
himself). Whereas taking off from Raworth _may_ be more likely to land you
in a different space altogether.
And you also said: "Anyhow, this is not the only way to judge quality -
indeed,
it's a pretty specialised and exclusive way."
Well, I wasn't presuming to judge or compare quality, just giving a
personal take on what these two poets meant to me, as a poet. And I have
learned from them both, I hope.
By the by, Keston, I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to talk after my
reading last Thursday - the choice of pubs accidentally divided the
audience. But that St Peter's Church venue was pretty special -
appropriately synchronistic sound & lighting effects.
In reply to Cris about the differences between the original JHP editions
and the Allardyce Barnett/Agneau 2 collection - I don't own a copy of High
Pink On Chrome, so I'll take your word for it that it's a particularly
egregious mistranslation. Collected editions do involve some compromise
though, as the price of making fugitive and out-of-print books available in
one place. Hopefully the forthcoming updated edition (I think John
Kinsella's involved) will be an improvement.
Ken
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