On Wed, 12 Mar 1997, Helen Frances wrote:
> What does it mean to "understand" contemporary poetry ?... or indeed, that
> of any era.
> Part of my mind flicks off into an answer about important ideas, modes of
> writing, challenges, revaluation, reaction, context,etc etc... but what I
> would like to hear are thoughts on the relationship between "understanding
> contemporary poetry" and the experience (if I may use the word largely) of
> reading poems.
- BIG question, Helen, I... dunno how close I can come to it... but the
first thing to say is that my own reading of poems is constantly shifting,
and what I read with one impact five years ago, I now get a completely
different impact from. I'd like not to relate this totally to the aging
process - but it does come down to some extent to the kind of thing I'm
reading, which is *capable of* multi-levelled reading - intended for,
even. And I tend to resist that work which delivers its meagre all at
first reading - snack poetry, as it appears. Also, for me, I'm looking not
just for an intellectual "understanding" but a physical response - usually
to the implied or actual sound.
But "understand" sounds so complete I can't equate it to the experiences
which have meant most to me - rather more developing an openness, as an
echo of Whitman's tentative "now first it seems my thoughts begin to span
thee" - that's the moment I'm in it for.
But I know I'm missing something in your question: can you come back on
this?
___________________________________________________________
Richard Caddel
Durham University Library, Stockton Rd., Durham DH1 3LY, UK
E-mail: R.I.Caddel @ durham.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)191 374 3044 Fax: +44 (0)191 374 7481
WWW: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dul0ric
"Words! Pens are too light. Take a chisel to write."
- Basil Bunting
___________________________________________________________
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|