So What?
I have been rummaging about in the 'modern' poetry. Although written in great detail sometimes, it feels like more of the same, and most of this leaves little lasting effect on my thoughts other than to think "so what"? I don't want poetry to continually point out all that is wrong with the world, but rather, some of the wonder of the world. I don't want to keep reading strings of flat words and uninteresting words, and words that drop names as though this is supposed to impress the reader that the poet is brilliant. Let poetry sing about other than the nitty gritty of life, and begin to lift us all into a place where imagination can be set loose once more.
posted by maggiesong at 12:50 AM
3 Comments:
Aammoury - thanks for your comment. I wasn't thinking of Eliot when I made my comment. In some way, I think Eliot was trying to make a point when he used many historical references in some (but not all) of his work. I'm not knowledgeable on art work at all, although I have been intrigued by some of Picasso's cubist work.
I used the word 'modern', but was looking at poetry in the 70s and 80s in the Norton, and I find it hard to believe that some of this stuff managed to get published. I should probably have used the term "post-modernism", to be politically correct.
To me, 'modern' is and has been a continuation in every age. There is always something 'different' that develops within the context of any culture, whether it's in music, poetry, art, fashion, politics, religion, economy. Sometimes it is just a passing 'fad', but other times, it catches on and becomes the new 'norm'.
Traditionally, when being described as something new, 'modern' was used as an adjective to describe it as different from the existing norms, but that description has been tossed out of the window and "modernism" and "post-modernism" have become nouns. Even so, it is to me, like trying to hold onto jello. Solid definitions that can be agreed upon seem elusive, and that is part of what it's about I guess - changing shape at wim.
And "modernism" and now "post-modernism" were supposed to find nothing in history that was of interest - it was all supposed to be whatever is in the here a now. I just find that some of this work drags me down and becomes uninteresting.
I read a poem, for example, from Rita Dove published in 1980. This is a woman who has won a Pulitzer Prize for "Thomas and Beulah". She apparently teaches writing at Arizona State University. It is as though some people get a reputation and then are believed to be "the greatest" by the masses, no matter what they turn out.
The Secret Garden
I was ill, lying on my bed of old papers,
when you came with white rabbits in your arms;
and the doves scattered upwards, flying to mothers,
and the snails sighed under their baggage of stone.
Now your tongue grows like celery between us;
Because of our love-cries, cabbage darkens in its nest,
the cauliflower thinks of her pale, plump children
and turns greenish white in a light like the ocean's.
I was sick, fainting in the smell of teabags,
when you came with tomatoes, a good poetry.
I am being wooed. I am being conquered
by a cliff of limestone that leaves chalk on my breasts.
Rita Dove
There is nothing I can say about this.
hi Erica...thanks for the comment you left. I do not judge the feelings of poets. They can feel whatever they want to, but why should some of this be published when, to me, it is clearly less than good or even interesting. I realize this is my own opinion, and I realize that some types of poetry appeal to some people for particular reasons and don't appeal to others.
The point I'm trying to make is that the craft of poetry appears to be missing. It is one thing to have free verse, but it is another when poem is like a chopped up piece of prose that if it were left as prose, no one would be interested in reading because the subject material and the words are not, as Coleridge said: "words in their best order".
For my money, poetry seems to be becoming destroyed as an art form when what is published is what we get. Don't forget, we are all at the mercy of other people with power and money who decide what in this world will be able to be seen in the public eye. We cannot afford to just jump on this bandwagon and 'buy' into everything and anything going.
Anna,
Thanks for your best wishes. And I hope you have a great summer too and continued success in your studies.
For the first time in 5 years I will not be haunting the pathways and hallways of York. It's going to seem 'odd'. I've been a long time getting here.
I've applied for and been accepted into a degree programme in the U.S. which will take me about two and a half years to complete. It's exciting yes, but it's also a huge move and a whole different lifestyle. And if I don't do this now I won't, so I'm off and running again this coming fall, but this time, I will be a full time student.
Post a Comment
<< Home