Suspended's Poetry Apprenticeship

[sus]

...begins now. And I am learning from the masters, of course. On the banks of the 20th century. Beginning with the Pound Era.

[Cathay's] real achievement lay not on the frontier of comparative poetics, but securely within the effort, then going forward in London, to rethink the nature of an English poem. It consisted in maximizing three criteria at once, criteria hitherto developed separately: the vers-libre principle, that the single line is the unit of composition; the Imagist principle, that a poem may build its effects out of things it sets before the mind's eye by naming them; and the lyrical principle, that words or names, being ordered in time, are bound together and recalled into each other's presence by recurrent sounds.

I am going approximately in order from the beginning of Modernism, although I may backtrack from my starting point into Symbolism. The idea is to get a sense of the trajectory—of poetry as a temporal unfolding and not a static thing-in-space.

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to learn along with me, or to teach me what they know.

 

[sus]

I am off for a long walk across Brooklyn all afternoon but I will be back with ideas and images I hope.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Why not start further back with the good stuff?

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Useful exercise might be to try to create a parody or pastiche of anything you deem sufficiently distinctive.

 

[luka]

Useful exercise might be to try to create a parody or pastiche of anything you deem sufficiently distinctive.

that wont help. poetry is a science of the self not a parlour game. he needs to purge all that is base within himself and burn with a pure fire.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

that wont help. poetry is a science of the self not a parlour game. he needs to purge all that is base within himself and burn with a pure fire.

He's looking to understand the stuff and its development, as far as I can tell, rather than unfold his soul.

 

[sus]

Why not start further back with the good stuff?

That's a good question I wondered that myself.

The easy answer is I am already reading and immersed in Pound Era.

Probably the more accurate answer is that (1) I've struggled with the Chaucer I've tried (2) 19th century stuff has always icked me out (3) I could probably overcome these if I felt I could link them into my intellectual matrix. But there is nothing to hook into. I'm trying to fill out a quilt from a starting center and there aren't any seams on my quilt to sew that square onto.

 

[sus]

I'm looking to become a great poet. To apprentice in the tradition and unlock new powers of my language and my self. I should probably try some pastiches and also, in my spare hours, burn like a pure fire.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Invest in a few of these

Poetry anthology recommendations please

Enjoying reading poetry a bit more recently, probably cos I only get to read without distractions for short snatches of time, and I left all my books behind when i moved to spain - no more picking things up for cheap in 2nd hand bookshops. Whats worth spalshing out on?

www.dissensus.com

 

[sus]

It's corny but I choose to believe in these things and I believe because I believe I'm better off believing than not.

And also "isn't it pretty to think so" etc

 

[sus]

Invest in a few of these

Poetry anthology recommendations please

Enjoying reading poetry a bit more recently, probably cos I only get to read without distractions for short snatches of time, and I left all my books behind when i moved to spain - no more picking things up for cheap in 2nd hand bookshops. Whats worth spalshing out on?

www.dissensus.com

I'm somewhat apprehensive of working through anthologies. I feel like it will make poetry homework. It will dampen the pure burning fire of my soul.

I feel like I need momentum. That's what the chronological trajectory thing is about. Gas to get me off the ground.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

I'm looking to become a great poet. To apprentice in the tradition and unlock new powers of my language and my self. I should probably try some pastiches and also, in my spare hours, burn like a pure fire.

Have you written anything? Post it.

 

[Benny Bunter]

I'm somewhat apprehensive of working through anthologies. I feel like it will make poetry homework. It will dampen the pure burning fire of my soul.

I feel like I need momentum. That's what the chronological trajectory thing is about. Gas to get me off the ground.

But you're reading a book about poetry, wouldn't it be better to read the actual poetry itself first?

 

[Corpsey]

Just remember that the best stuff rhymes

 

[luka]

He's looking to understand the stuff and its development, as far as I can tell, rather than unfold his soul.

why? what good is that going to do him?

 

[luka]

poetry is history is fucking awful. like, totally unreadable. its absolute shit. it goes
greeny green the green grass grows
mowy mow the mower mows

 

[luka]

who wants to read that? the good stuff starts with me.

 

[other_life]

who wants to read that? the good stuff starts with me.

probably wrong!

 

[sus]

greeny green the green grass grows

Blue, blue is the grass about the river

 

[sus]

But you're reading a book about poetry, wouldn't it be better to read the actual poetry itself first?

It's the Pound Era Benny!!