Wyatt Prunty
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195057867
- eISBN:
- 9780199855124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195057867.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Symbol, allegory, irony, paradox, and ambiguity were handled by the New Critics in a complex way that made a matrix of the text, with the tradition standing behind as the ultimate context. One of the ...
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Symbol, allegory, irony, paradox, and ambiguity were handled by the New Critics in a complex way that made a matrix of the text, with the tradition standing behind as the ultimate context. One of the first problems for poets schooled by the New Critics was not to sound like the property of a thorough New Critical reading. To many of those writing during the fifties and early sixties, symbol, allegory, irony, paradox, and ambiguity seemed to exist as much by their presence in the readings made by followers of the New Criticism as they did for their appearance in contemporary poems. The use of these devices seemed to repeat old patterns, rather than to create new and independent work. In this light, a “traditional” poet was someone standing belatedly inadequate before the present. This chapter focuses on one type of poetry that has been created as a substitute for the aesthetics presented to us through the New Critical reading of modernism and the poetic tradition —the emaciated poem. The trades in modes of thought made by those who adopted this kind of poetry give us an important outline to our contemporary literary economy, in which serious gains and losses have resulted from aesthetic shifts. There are numerous practitioners of this poetry. Two of the most interesting and useful examples are Robert Creeley and A. R. Ammons.Less
Symbol, allegory, irony, paradox, and ambiguity were handled by the New Critics in a complex way that made a matrix of the text, with the tradition standing behind as the ultimate context. One of the first problems for poets schooled by the New Critics was not to sound like the property of a thorough New Critical reading. To many of those writing during the fifties and early sixties, symbol, allegory, irony, paradox, and ambiguity seemed to exist as much by their presence in the readings made by followers of the New Criticism as they did for their appearance in contemporary poems. The use of these devices seemed to repeat old patterns, rather than to create new and independent work. In this light, a “traditional” poet was someone standing belatedly inadequate before the present. This chapter focuses on one type of poetry that has been created as a substitute for the aesthetics presented to us through the New Critical reading of modernism and the poetic tradition —the emaciated poem. The trades in modes of thought made by those who adopted this kind of poetry give us an important outline to our contemporary literary economy, in which serious gains and losses have resulted from aesthetic shifts. There are numerous practitioners of this poetry. Two of the most interesting and useful examples are Robert Creeley and A. R. Ammons.
Peter Middleton
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226290003
- eISBN:
- 9780226290140
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226290140.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
The chapter shows how postwar poets encountered strong negative or idealized images of poetry in the writings of physicists and other scientists. Physicists sometimes referred to an abstraction of ...
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The chapter shows how postwar poets encountered strong negative or idealized images of poetry in the writings of physicists and other scientists. Physicists sometimes referred to an abstraction of poetry in order to negotiate tricky questions about how to communicate the strangeness and “semi-phenomenological” character of the quantum world. Murray Gell-Mann coins the term “quark” partly because the allusion to Joyce enables him to finesse the questionable actuality of these sub-atomic particles. The chapter discusses the surprising prevalence of articles about poetry in general science journals aimed at professional scientists, and looks in detail at one article on contemporary poetry and science. Many poets read and referred to popular writings by Erwin Schröger and Werner Heisenberg. The chapter explains how their books appealed to poets because they referenced poetry, and talked about its possible future roles in relation to physics. Robert Creeley and Robert Duncan both found uses for the ideas of these physicists in their essays and poems. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how late in his career Oppenheimer reversed his earlier endorsement of Paul Dirac’s dismissal of poetry, by arguing that good scientific communication to the public would have the quality of lyric.Less
The chapter shows how postwar poets encountered strong negative or idealized images of poetry in the writings of physicists and other scientists. Physicists sometimes referred to an abstraction of poetry in order to negotiate tricky questions about how to communicate the strangeness and “semi-phenomenological” character of the quantum world. Murray Gell-Mann coins the term “quark” partly because the allusion to Joyce enables him to finesse the questionable actuality of these sub-atomic particles. The chapter discusses the surprising prevalence of articles about poetry in general science journals aimed at professional scientists, and looks in detail at one article on contemporary poetry and science. Many poets read and referred to popular writings by Erwin Schröger and Werner Heisenberg. The chapter explains how their books appealed to poets because they referenced poetry, and talked about its possible future roles in relation to physics. Robert Creeley and Robert Duncan both found uses for the ideas of these physicists in their essays and poems. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how late in his career Oppenheimer reversed his earlier endorsement of Paul Dirac’s dismissal of poetry, by arguing that good scientific communication to the public would have the quality of lyric.
Jonathan Mayhew
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226512037
- eISBN:
- 9780226512051
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226512051.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
In the years immediately prior to the emergence of deep image poetry, a few American poets put Lorca to more personal and idiosyncratic uses. Jack Spicer's 1957 After Lorca is not only the most ...
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In the years immediately prior to the emergence of deep image poetry, a few American poets put Lorca to more personal and idiosyncratic uses. Jack Spicer's 1957 After Lorca is not only the most extended and complex instance of Lorquian apocrypha in any language, but also a crucial work in his own development as a poet and, consequently, one of the most significant works of postwar American poetry. Before discussing Spicer's book, this chapter briefly examines a Robert Creeley poem of the same title, written five years earlier in 1952. Creeley's “After Lorca” does not have great significance within his own literary formation: it is quite different from Creeley's poetry of the early 1950s and did not lead him in new directions for his subsequent work. “After Lorca,” nonetheless, is noteworthy both as the first apocryphal Lorca poem written in English and as an intriguing instance of experimental translation.Less
In the years immediately prior to the emergence of deep image poetry, a few American poets put Lorca to more personal and idiosyncratic uses. Jack Spicer's 1957 After Lorca is not only the most extended and complex instance of Lorquian apocrypha in any language, but also a crucial work in his own development as a poet and, consequently, one of the most significant works of postwar American poetry. Before discussing Spicer's book, this chapter briefly examines a Robert Creeley poem of the same title, written five years earlier in 1952. Creeley's “After Lorca” does not have great significance within his own literary formation: it is quite different from Creeley's poetry of the early 1950s and did not lead him in new directions for his subsequent work. “After Lorca,” nonetheless, is noteworthy both as the first apocryphal Lorca poem written in English and as an intriguing instance of experimental translation.
Jonathan Mayhew
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226512037
- eISBN:
- 9780226512051
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226512051.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) had enormous impact on the generation of American poets who came of age during the cold war, from Robert Duncan and Allen Ginsberg to Robert Creeley and Jerome ...
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Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) had enormous impact on the generation of American poets who came of age during the cold war, from Robert Duncan and Allen Ginsberg to Robert Creeley and Jerome Rothenberg. In large numbers, these poets have not only translated his works, but written imitations, parodies, and pastiches—along with essays and critical reviews. This book is an exploration of the afterlife of this legendary Spanish writer in the poetic culture of the United States. It examines how Lorca in English translation has become a specifically American poet, adapted to American cultural and ideological desiderata—one that bears little resemblance to the original corpus, or even to Lorca's Spanish legacy. As the author assesses Lorca's considerable influence on the American literary scene of the latter half of the twentieth century, he uncovers fundamental truths about contemporary poetry, the uses and abuses of translation, and Lorca himself.Less
Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) had enormous impact on the generation of American poets who came of age during the cold war, from Robert Duncan and Allen Ginsberg to Robert Creeley and Jerome Rothenberg. In large numbers, these poets have not only translated his works, but written imitations, parodies, and pastiches—along with essays and critical reviews. This book is an exploration of the afterlife of this legendary Spanish writer in the poetic culture of the United States. It examines how Lorca in English translation has become a specifically American poet, adapted to American cultural and ideological desiderata—one that bears little resemblance to the original corpus, or even to Lorca's Spanish legacy. As the author assesses Lorca's considerable influence on the American literary scene of the latter half of the twentieth century, he uncovers fundamental truths about contemporary poetry, the uses and abuses of translation, and Lorca himself.
