Or we could pull in some celtic inspiration and at the same time fill
an unaccountable gap. There's caber tossing, which is sissy stuff
compared to caber catching.
At 02:53 PM 8/25/2009, you wrote:
>I'm with you, Mark. We'll have a play-off between Sharon Olds and Lorna
>Crozier who both write exceptionally fine erotic verse.
>As for the men, well, what comes to mind is a strong man competition. We can
>set up a team like they do in golf - a poet teamed up with a strong man with
>the poet in trunks and the strong man in a Greco-Roman wrestling outfit. The
>strong man will pull a truck filled with manure while the poet recites.
>John Herbert Cunningham
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>Behalf Of Mark Weiss
>Sent: August-25-09 12:03 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: PS Re: "Has British Poetry had any significance since Wordsworth?"
>
>This got me thinking. We're probably all aware of the decline of
>public interest in poetry, certainly in English-speaking countries,
>and the attempts to rescue it by placing it in the protective
>environment of the university, where it gets to feed on students. And
>rather week-kneed promotional efforts like National Poetry Month and
>festivals that only those already interested even notice. What's
>needed is a larger public relations effort. I'm thinking that a Miss
>Poetry pageant might be the way to go. If the bikinis are skimpy
>enough there might be network time in it, despite the predictably
>awful talent segments (though I imagine that some folks would get off
>on scantily-clad girls spouting bad verse). And questions of national
>supremacy could be settled for any given year by a well-paid panel of
>judges. The whole thing, in fact, could put a lot of cash in the
>hands of poets and their promoters, given the minipageants that would
>be needed to support the main event--Miss Teen Poet of Bismarck North
>Dakota, and the like. The world would be filled with something like poetry.
>
>I don't claim any proprietary interest here, and would welcome
>comments. It would be particularly nice if others could come up with
>a role for male poets.
>
>Mark
>
>At 12:46 PM 8/25/2009, you wrote:
> >"Supremacy" seems a bit strong. Has to do with force of arms?
> >
> >This is I think pretty silly. Most verse on both sides of the
> >Atlantic has been pretty feeble, but that's always so, and a lot of
> >the big names are pretty hollow. If people still read poetry in 20
> >years, let alone 200, what will they make of Billy Collins?
> >
> >That said, a few whose absence is noteworthy, and a personal
> >favorite. Tennyson, Browning, Landor, Hopkins, Hardy, Ford Maddox
> >Ford. In comparison, you might want to look at some pre-modernist
> >Americans like Longfellow, Lanier, Markham, Robinson, Lowell (the
> >first one, but the second aint much either, imho).
> >
> >I'm obviously not trying to be encyclopedic here, and, except for
> >Ford (see his wonderful last book, the serial poem Buckshee), I've
> >avoided listing the near-contemporary, but you get the picture.
> >
> >Mark
> >
> >At 12:09 PM 8/25/2009, you wrote:
> >>I will not say that what you say is not so. My piece was arguing for the
> >>supremacy of the US influence historically, rather than to dismiss
> >>certain UK poets whose practice benefitted from High Modernism.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:32:18 +0100, Sally Evans
> >><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >>
> >> >I think what has happened to British Poetry in the time stated is it has
> >> >culturally split through the regions and countries that make up the
> >>British
> >> >Isles. Scottish poetry was really vibrant in the 20th c so especially
> >>was
> >> >Scottish Gaelic poetry. David Jones as an English speaking Welsh poet
> >>and
> >> >Basil Bunting as a northern poet are cases in point.
> >> >Sally Evans
> >> >http://www.desktopsallye.com
> >> >http://www.poetryscotland.co.uk
> >> >http://www.brokenholmes.co.uk
> >> >tel UK 01877 339449
> >> >----- Original Message -----
> >> >From: "Douglas Barbour" <[log in to unmask]>
> >> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >> >Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 4:11 PM
> >> >Subject: Re: "Has British Poetry had any significance since
> >>Wordsworth?"
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >> Some rhetorical force, perhaps, but I would wonder nevertheless.
> >> >>
> >> >> Even within the possibilities of innovation, I cant see not
> >>mentioning at
> >> >> least the major works of Basil Bunting & David Jones.
> >> >>
> >> >> Yes, poetry hasn't much 'place' outside of all the poets, but I'm not
> >> >> sure it has been as present as either fiction or drama since I dont
> >>know
> >> >> when...
> >> >>
> >> >> And there has been Britain's own more or less 'language' group(s)
> >>over
> >> >> the past 40 years or so, with its effect.
> >> >>
> >> >> Doug
> >> >> On 25-Aug-09, at 4:30 AM, Jeffrey Side wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>> New blog post:
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >>> "Has British Poetry had any significance since Wordsworth?"
> >> >>>
> >> >>> This may seem an outlandish question, but I think it has some
> >>force
> >> >>> behind it. Of course, the influence of Wordsworth on contemporary
> >> >>> British mainstream poetry need hardly be stressed, and I have
> >>written
> >> >>> extensively about this elsewhere. It is because of this influence
> >>that
> >> >>> most of the celebrated British poetry of the Twentieth Century
> >>tended
> >> >>> towards mediocrity when compared to American poetry of the
> >>same
> >> >>> period.....
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >>> http://jeffrey-side.blogspot.com/
> >> >>>
> >> >>
> >> >> Douglas Barbour
> >> >> [log in to unmask]
> >> >>
> >> >> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> >> >>
> >> >> Latest books:
> >> >> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> >> >> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> >> >> Wednesdays'
> >> >> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-
> >>aboveground-press_10.html
> >> >>
> >> >> There are as many fools in the world as there are people.
> >> >>
> >> >> Sigmund Freud
> >> >>
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