Friday, May 11, 2007

 

Poets Teaching Poets - Self & the World


Essays from the low-residency graduate program in writing, established at Goddard College in Vermont in the mid-70's, moved to Warren Wilson College in 1981 in Asheville, NC. Edited by Gregory Orr and Ellen Bryant Voigt. Again, let me reiterate that I am not really "reviewing" books, but simply sharing a student's reaction to the prose of our leading poets, and doing thumbnail sketches.

Part One - A Beautiful Circuiting

Transtromer's Baltics - Making a Form of Time by Robert Hass

Hass's analysis and translations of Transtromer work is fascinating reading. Since the original is in Swedish, there is no last word but Hass's considerable sensitivity to the material makes for a satisfying and edifying lesson.

Obstinate Humanity - Louise Gluck

This essay was in Gluck's own book reviewed by me earlier.
Proofs & Theories by Louise Gluck

Staying News - A Defense of the Lyric by Joan Aleshire

One of my favorites in the book, Aleshire differentiates between lyric and "confessional" poetry--a difference too often ignored in the lofty academics of
poetry today. I loved her down to earth descriptions and examples including "gospel" versus "gossip." She quotes Marina Tsyvetayeva's comment on criticism: There is no approach to art; it is a seizing And Aleshire adds:
In no art form is this seizing more apparent than in the lyric poem, which gives the shock of hearing a human voice speaking intimately from the heart."

Plath's Bees by Marianne Boruch

WONDERfUL essay about Sylvia Plath, the bees she raised just before her suicide, their metaphor, and Boruch's touching tribute to the Bee Series. (I ran to find my Plath collection and enjoyed them again along with the reading of this piece.)

The Voice of Authority by Carl Dennis

A very interesting essay about the authoritative voice of a poet. "What attributes must a speaker display if a speaker are to have authority? For me, three are fundamental--passion, discrimination, and inclusiveness.

Falling Off the World - Poetry and Innerness by Alan Williamson

A delightful analysis of the work of Elizabeth Bishop and W.S. Merwin and Rilke in the realm of 'innerness" and lyric poetry. "What is the moral of all this? The moral, I suppose, is that the war between the outerness and the innerness is perennial in human experience, and one of the great wellsprings of poetry."

Part Two - Ancient Salt

Poetry and the Self - Reflections on the Discovery of the Self in Early Greek Lyrics by Renate Wood

Orpheus/Philomela - Subjection and Mastery in the Founding Stories of Poetic Production and in the LOgic of Our Practice by Allen Grossman

I have to admit to being VERY resistant to these two essays. I read them in bits and pieces and cannot offer any enthusiasm for them. It is just my lack of education or the heaviness of the ancient subjects...or what? I leave it to you to read.

The Medusa Connection by Eleanor Wilner

On the other hand, I loved this essay. I happen to be a huge fan of Wilner's anyway, and the ease with which she presents fascinating material never disappoints. I am now playing with Medusa poems in my head, and learned so much in this essay.

"Penguins moved from wings to fins...In the world of imagination, similar adaptations seem to be underway. As this essay sets out to track the spontaneous recurrence in our poetry of the ancient figure of the Medusa, it may be well to remember that adaptation is not regression, but a change that continuity requires."

Poetry and the Audience by Michael Ryan

A very interesting peek into the role of "audience" in poetry in contemporary times.

"The poet's idea of his audience (which may or may not be accurate) is fused to his idea of his cultural role (which may or may not be realistic) and thereby influences and sometimes even generates his poetry."


Part Three - Manifest Apparitions

Poetry and Self-Making by Reginald Gibbons

This essay is kicked off with the question that because a poet revises his composition he inevitably changes his idea, his consciousness, of himself, also?
It is an interesting exploration of why we write and for whom.

Moving Means, Meaning Moves by Heather McHugh

My favorite essay in the book, I find McHugh delightful to read, her clever
and witty delivery and intensely intellectual ideas compelling. The examples of
poetry she uses to illustrates her points never cease to please me. I think she
is superb! The essay uses a moving car metaphor throughout.

"It [poetry] is a vehicle to move us from the smaller to the larger senses of destination: to move us out of our casual readerships, out of passing disregard, out of passivity itself, our habit of auto-immunity, and into that most mortal vulnerability: the capacity to respond."

Image by Ellen Bryant Voigt

As much as I like much of Voigt's poetry, I was disappointed in this essay of mostly cited works and other people's quotes. Dry, academic and disappointing after the romp with McHugh before it. So much has been said on image that I suppose we must leave the subject to Dobyns who attacks it masterfully in his lectures. Or maybe I was just tired. I'll give it another try later.

Writing the Reader's Life by Stephen Dobyns

This essay was in Dobyns' own book reviewed by me earlier.
Best Words, Best Order by Stephen Dobyns

On Disproportion by Tony Hoagland

A wonderful essay defending excesses in poetry! I adore Hoagland's ground of being. He has the sensibility of a true lover of life and people and it sparkles in everything he undertakes.

"For it is the job of the poet to give pleasure, to amaze and exhort as well as testify to the real. Song is heroic. It has its place even at a funeral. How else will we remember that anything is possible?"

Four Temperaments and the Forms of Poetry by Gregory Orr

The four temperaments are: story, structure, music and imagination. And he elaborates on each, ending with a few thoughts for poets.

"A poet is always trying to decide who he or she is and might become. To me, the notion of the four temperaments holds the promise of an underlying pattern that can orient and guide a poet as well as a critic...no one can hope to have all four temperaments in equal strength, but the goal will always be to have all four temperaments present, though some will arrive as gifts and others must be learned and labored for."



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Comments:
Oh good, another one to add to my list. I just finished The Poet's Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux (recommendation found on your blog), and thoroughly enjoyed it. I plan to keep it handy to go back and do more of the exercises. What a great book.
 
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