Well you may be right about that, David – plus ça change. Certainly, looking around at the social politics of Britain that seems very much the case. I don’t take quite as gloomy a view as you about the social politics of poetry, though mine isn’t especially rosy either. Yet I do see some talent scattered about, and very evidently not the preserve of the middle or upper classes.
Anyway, I’ve been spectacularly unpersuasive on this issue of the great divide and have bored myself and others silly, so unless there’s some completely nonsensical claim being made, my belated new year’s resolution is to put a sock in it. A rotten rock might serve as well.
Jamie
From: David Bircumshaw
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2018 12:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: "a man speaking to men"
It is a particular and flexible historical fact about the history of dear old Britannia that the old guard always changes, Jamie, but always stays in charge of the gates. Britain has a class system that endures, and the stamp of it runs right through its poetry, like a watermark, or the tooth-rotting tattoo in seaside rock.
Always. The rotten rock in the beating waves.
On 19 January 2018 at 22:27, Jamie McKendrick <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Don’t worry, Luke! It’s not like I’m personally offended. I never signed up to either camp.
You don’t sound stupid, though I think the prejudice mostly is, albeit held tenaciously enough by a number of otherwise intelligent people.
I also think others’ as well as Robert ‘s model for the term is outdated.
Apart from his restrictive and excluding lineage from the modernists, the idea of the ‘commercial’ poetry presses being a distinct entity doesn’t make much sense now. Hardly any poetry is reviewed nowadays, and there’s more likelihood of an appreciative essay if you belong within the academic circle of the avant-garde.
The literary establishment is a spectral fiction, though It wasn’t always thus. If you judge by the recipients of the major prizes over the last five years I’d say there’s been a very discernible switch from an established old guard. About time perhaps?
Jamie
On 19 Jan 2018, at 20:51, Luke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Sorry if I offended you with the comment about "mainstream" poetry. I just hope I don't seem too stupid, it's probably something about 'underground' pop music.
Cheers,
Luke
