Re: What little I know
Mattis Fishman (mattis@argos.argoscomp.com)
Fri, 05 Jun 1998 13:53:36 -0400 (EDT)
Hello Bananafish-of-a-feather,
Aaron pointed out how reading Salinger gave him an appreciation of
poetry, and Will seemed to link this phenomenon to some aspect of
Salinger's style.
When Will asks "Why does Salinger's prose make poetry something special and
beyond poems?" I assume he means to ask why does his prose *make us feel*
that poetry is something special and beyond poems. You don't have to
go far to see how JD builds up the image of the poet as someone with
elevated perceptions and the extraordinary ability to transmit them
by means of a finely devloped super-language. He personifies this
in Seymour to whom he also adds the asserted qualities of saintliness.
With hardly more lines of actual verse than John Keats, John Keats, John,
he has lead us to venerate the poet as the one who knows a good cigar
end when he sees one.
So, I humbly propose that we come away from these works more enamored
of poets than of poetry. Of course, since these great men were able
to distil their wisdom into holy runes it certainly seems a good idea
to read their poetry, even if it means learning a foreign language.
Part of the problem with this, is that the association between being
a holy man and being a poet is definitely not mandatory. This idea
was brought up once when contrasting Ray Ford, in The Inverted Forest,
to Seymour. The scene that sticks out for me is when Bobby Waner phones
Corinne, trying to convince her not to marry Ford, but the whole
plot of the story reveals that cleanliness is a lot closer to godliness
than is Ray Ford's poetry (and he wasn't exactly close to cleanliness either).
Real life (TM) has also illustrated that "major" poets may be morally
bankrupt (one of the soldiers who arrested Pound - in Italy? - said in
an interview, that had they been aware of exactly who he was at the time,
he probably would have taken a long shortcut to the sidewalk, so to speak.
As an aside, I am ill equipped to get into a flame war about anyone's
favorite poet, so if you think I'm wrong in this example, I concede)
Additionally, it has always bothered me that Seymour's poetic genius has
been done with mirrors. I recall two poems, "John Keats", and
"the little girl", neither of them exactly earth shaking, and not very
spiritual.
So, if we come away with such an inspiring vision of poetry, I think
is largely due the simple assertion that the poet is related to the saint,
when it is really the saint whom we truly admire.
By the way, I really do feel that an appreciation for poetry, and the
development of poetic skills can lead to an awakened sensitivity
to spirituality, I only mean to point out that in this subject,
Salinger has asserted his point rather than demonstrated it.
All the best,
Mattis