Re: Criteria time
Molly Hall (pp00918@ppp.kcc.edu)
Thu, 08 Jan 1998 14:16:49 -0400
Malcolm Lawrence wrote:
> Okay, give us your criteria not only for Ginsberg but for the landscape of great
> poetry its'elfWhich poetic tradition are you defending? Era and decade would be
> appreciated. And if not Ginsberg who would you say is/was?
If I cared to take the time I certainly could. Of course to answer what
you ask would require twenty/thirty pages for the introdution alone.
Let's look at what he is remembered for: a beat (but not the originator
of the movement), a hippie (good enough), his famous poems Howl,
Kaddish, AMerica, A Supermarket in California, etc., his being openly
gay as a poet (as WHitman only partially was), etc. Find and dandy.
And he could read well. Absolutely. He could have made even my
pathetic attempts at poetry sound decent. The problem is, even with all
that, one is left with collections filled with nonsense mutterings and
an unfortunately large amount of erotic poetry which proves quite boring
after the first one or two. Like Vivaldi with concertos, he wrote the
same poem a thousand times.
The beats had their time and it was good. What they had to say was
wonderful. But speaking of what has influenced people in the particular
genres and how much the artist actually concentrates on his craft, they
don't stand up to others. What they were attempting to change was the
style of T.S. Eliot, Pound, etc. THose guys were truly interested in
symmetry, intellect, irony, and wit. Ginsberg and others attempted to
create an alternative, like Kerouac w/stream of consciousness, etc.
They didn't really do it. Many argue Eliot's "The Waste Land" to be the
most important poem of the century, at least to poets concerned with the
craft itself. As w/poetry, so w/prose: Today's authors don't turn to
Kerouac today for inspiration, they still look to Hemingway, STein,
Fitsgerald, etc. Think of Ginsberg's generation and the man himself
like any other movement that fit the time. I will continue to read
Ginsberg and enjoy his often meaningless rants, often quite meaningful
as well, but when it's time to pick up the ol' pen and paper, I'll
concern myself more with poets like Robert Lowell, Dennis Levertov,
Robert Creeley, Sylvia Plath. These were poets concerned with their
craft that still fall into Ginsberg's category. They may not all have
been as outspoken as Ginsberg, but they were all carefully dedicated to
each individual word when it came to composing.
ANd now, since it's a pretty day, I'm going to stop and let you disagree
with everything. :)
Brian Hall
p.s. The easiest way to argue anything is to say, Ok, give me this and
this and this and then I'll sit back and mock. Let's all try to be more
creative. K? And telling you who I consider the most important poet
would be an excercise in futility, presuming the way you already plan to
treat the response.