Politics are like perversions: one's own are endlessly fascinating, but
those of others are extremely tedious. In order to set an example (which I
have no hopes of anyone else following) of keeping discussion here focused
on poetry, I must refrain from writing a long solemn lecture deploring the
particular things I'm personally pissed off about. But I may within this
constraint contribute a few comments on political poetry. Please note that
nothing should be inferred from the following about my own political views,
which are different from what you probably think they are.
It isn't often noticed that the successful political poetry of the past is
staunchly conservative. Theocritus praised Ptolemy, the Roman Augustans
lauded the Emperor, and the only explicitly political message in
Shakespeare's plays is that trying to overthrow the established order is
villainy. Even Homer's Thersites, the first political dissident in
literature (cf. Iliad I,) is presented unsympathetically. And perhaps the
finest political poem in English, Marvell's Horatian Ode on Cromwell, seems
poised between whether monarchy or dictatorship is the best system.
Maybe poets of the past felt that politics weren't really very important, so
they might as well adopt whichever politics are expedient for their career.
I think such indifference can be healthy. I recall reading some
correspondence between T. S. Eliot and Hugh MacDiarmid, which was quite
cordial and dealt with Eliot's efforts to publish MacDiarmid's work. It's
rather difficult to image a monarchist and an intransigent Communist having
such a relationship today. Presumably they thought the poetry was more
important than the politics.
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I think the reason why there's no avant-garde is that there's no garde any
more. Literary revolutionaries now are the ones who wear sandals instead of
loafers in the English Department coffee room. There's something pathetic
about a bohemian with a fellowship.
Incidentally the Merriam Webster College Dictionary, which is considered
standard at least for US usage, says that avant-garde can be an adjective
and gives "avant-garde writers" as an example.
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Yesterday by accident I came across one of the few recent poetry books that
seems worthy of my attention: Looking for Poetry: Poems by Carlos Drummond
de Andrade and Rafael Alberti / Songs from the Quechua, translated by Mark
Strand (Knopf, New York, 2002.) I've only just leafed through the poems by
de Andrade and Alberti, whose work I wasn't familiar with, but they look
like they'll repay further study. But I couldn't stop reading all the Songs
from the Quechua, which I thought were strange and wonderful. The
translator is working here from Spanish versions of the originals made by
historians and anthropologists, but one gets the impression that this is the
sort of poetry that translates well, since the bold imagery is in itself so
striking.
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For those who want the short version, the main point of the review referred
to by David Bircumshaw is summed up by its statement, drawn from Andrew
Jordan, that "the middle-classes have created a hegemony in the poetry
world, while sounding off about tolerance and inclusion..." By the way, has
anyone else heard that noted religious leader John Paul II is a member of
the Roman Catholic church? Rebecca Seiferle's comments should be footnoted
to record that the reviewer's observations of Ruth Padel's "sexiness' were
an extension of the remark quoted in the review's first sentence that "Ruth
Padel is ‘the sexiest voice in British poetry,'" attributed to Maggie
O’Farrell.
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I'm glad that my previous note on Sappho generated a few comments on her,
though no one answered my question or even argued about whether it was a
legitimate one. I'd recommend that those who are interested in further
reading get the 1965 paperback Anchor/Doubleday edition by Willis Barnstone,
whose translations seem to me to catch Sappho's combination of elegance and
naturalness better than others I've seen. It contains almost all the poems
and fragments in English and Greek -- the Greek is nice to see there even if
you can't read it. This edition is out of print but available at some
libraries and through internet used book sellers. It also includes, in
English, the relevant testimonia (passages from ancient authors commenting
on Sappho.) The other fundamental resource is Sir Denys Page's Sappho and
Alcaeus (Oxford UP) which is written for scholars but much of which can be
useful to read even if the Greek is just little squiggles to you. (Many of
the most interesting parts don't include that much quoted Greek, and it
wouldn't be much of a chore for someone who knows Greek to explain them to
you.) This book includes strictly literal translations of the most
important poems and an introduction and notes which constitute the best
statement of what can be known, rather than fantasized, about Sappho's life
and work.
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I want to speak up in defense of Suckling and Lovelace. At least one person
still reads them with pleasure and admiration. I wonder how many of the
versifiers appearing in today's journals will have even that much of an
audience several hundred years from now.
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My thanks to Anny Ballardini for her remarks my poem "The House" and for
noticing that sometimes people actually post poems here.
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Quote of the week
It's not right that there should be lamentation in a house
which is dedicated to the Muses. That would be wrong for us.
-- Sappho (traditionally considered her dying
words, to her daughter)
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Jon Corelis [log in to unmask]
http://www.geocities.com/joncpoetics
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