I'd tend to agree with Judy when it comes to the New Formalists, that
R.S.Gwynn is the best -- I was about to say, of a bad lot, but that would be
unfair to Sam.
The big guns (Gioia, Steele) I've little time for, as they seem to me
restrictedly derivative from Auden.
My major beef with the movement as a whole (and characterising a paid-up New
Formalist as one of the Twenty Five Rebel Angels, or fellow travellers who
could have been published in that volume) is that they seem to ignore the
formal tradition in *US American* poetry -- John Crowe Ransom might as well
not exist for them -- in favour of a very narrow reading of late 19th/early
20thC UK English formal poetry as seen through the lens of Auden.
Robin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Judy Prince" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: "incapacity"
> Doug, I've read some New Formalists' work, but usually don't prefer it
> [which is no different from my generally not preferring any poetry in any
> "school" or era!]. However, Sam Gwynn's a listmember of New Poetry, so I
> read a few of his poems.
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