tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20502279.post838093511086250886..comments2023-11-03T03:33:00.860-07:00Comments on Jennifer Bartlett, Poet: The poet as prophetUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20502279.post-70021574727810928872009-03-24T19:49:00.000-07:002009-03-24T19:49:00.000-07:00I tend to agree with Perloff, too, about the makin...I tend to agree with Perloff, too, about the making of pleasing aesthetic objects being disconnected from social aspects of poetry, that used to be there, and probably ought to be there. That's the real dead-end of the post-avant: irrelevance. Not that I advocate some kind of reactionary reversal: that's the dead-end of the neo-formalists, whose attitudes are mostly neo-conservative. I think both of those attitudes are empty.<BR/><BR/>The poet as prophet is a very old aspect of poetry, and to me one of its most important. The ancient skaldic and bardic traditions of Celtic Europe; the vatic poetries of South Asia; the shamanic poetries (anthologized in the post-modern era most prominently by Jerome Rothenberg); visionary poetry of various world mystical traditions from Sufism to Rilke; etc.<BR/><BR/>But the one thing poetry-as-prophecy has that some of the post-avant really dislikes is meaning. A social aspect of poetry. A social engagement, if you will. I think Tarn's question is a very relevant one; and Everson's answer is the skaldic/visionary response, which as he says is always there. Even if it's currently unfashionable.<BR/><BR/>As for professional poetry, the whole poet-academic trope is very new. So it's remarkable how threatened some seem to feel when faced with the loss of that entitlement. Poets have always survived outside of academia; as you and Perloff both say. The avocation goes on; if you need to write, you will write, no matter what, if it's as important to you as breathing. (I am one of those, although I don't claim to be A Poet. I'm not that ambitious.) "Desperation" is not the appropriate word; but perhaps "compulsion" is. There are probably many poets we've never heard of who write compulsively, and perhaps write well; we haven't heard of them because they're not playing the fame/publication/awards game. Some of them probably could with success; there can be many reasons why they might not to be in the game.<BR/><BR/>You gave the last word to Everson, and I agree with that. I think he's correct.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20502279.post-27342472929036418112009-03-24T05:09:00.000-07:002009-03-24T05:09:00.000-07:00This post appeals to me. I think about it in a co...This post appeals to me. I think about it in a couple different ways.<BR/><BR/>First, regarding academia : I started writing before there were MFA programs. So it's interesting to me to see young poets who simply take it all for granted. M. Perloff's comments struck a chord. I often think the glut of so-called professional poets has to do with the fact that while post-grads are making careers in the MFA industry, children in elementary schools are not learning the basics of reading & writing - which is what helped me become a writer - on my own - in the first place. I think at some point a writer - especially a poet, maybe - has to leave the nest of support systems, and begin to write solely for writing's sake, and solely for the (non-academic) audience. Otherwise they will remain basically functionaries of an establishment, rather than original writers.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, I don't want to reduce the complexities of the situation. I benefited from "creative writing" classes as an undergrad in college (though I didn't major in it, in the end). I understand the value of scholarship & the access to the wider world which the academy affords to peots, both in terms of the networks & the knowledge made available. But in the end I do believe poetry as a "career" is not all the fulfilling, if thought of as an academic pursuit. As Perloff suggests, there ought to be a social aspect which goes beyond the making of pleasing aesthetic objects & the training of more young would-be academics to do the same.<BR/><BR/>My second thought has to do with the notion of "prophecy" itself. In my own experience, I have felt that writing is in some way an encounter with mystery. The poet brings to "utterance" a certain element of psychological fear & wonder. Maybe this is primitive - or maybe it is just the artist's way of acknowledging & responding to the presence of the beauitufl in speech. Because of this aura or magic circle of mystery, I think the poet hesitates to "produce" poetry solely "at will" or for mercenary reasons. The art-making process involves some kind of surrender of the will.Henry Gouldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06763188178644726622noreply@blogger.com