The current issue of Poetry (January 2012) marks the 100th year for the journal. It is a remarkable issue, which includes a review of a revised edition of the letters of T. S. Eliot (by Adam Kirsch) and an essay by Penelope Pelizzon ("Potsherds and Arrowheads") , examining some of the poems that have appeared there over the years.
This month, too, I got notice of an acceptance from a little known journal, The Deronda Review, wherein the editor makes some comments which I find wonderfully insightful. These I would like to share.
In Pelizzon's essay, she is delighted to find poems by Louise Bogan and Langston Hughes among the "thirties bric-a-brac." Poetry is the foremost poetry journal in this country, even after a century. And it is fitting that Eliot is so perceptifvely discussed by Mr. Kirsch. Eliot changed the direction of poetry in this country, he and his friend Ezra Pound. I would argue that they did poetry no favor.
Now we come to the comment I would share from Esther Cameron, editor of Deronda Review. She laments the absence of lay readers. Lay readers? Where are they? Is it only poets who read other poets? And if that is so, cannot the blame be placed squarely on the shoulders of T. S. Eliot?
And yet, and yet . . . .
When I first was introduced to "the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" as a college freshman, I was bewildered. And even after the poem was explained, I could feel little sympathy for this ineffectual character, so full of inaction and self-pity. And yet, when in graduate school I heard Allan Tate read the poem, I finally listened with some appreciation. Yes, we all should be able to hear mermaids singing.
If you are near a library that takes Poetry, seek out the January copy and enjoy this very special issue.
Let there be Lay Readers among us. Thanks for listening.
Nancy
This month, too, I got notice of an acceptance from a little known journal, The Deronda Review, wherein the editor makes some comments which I find wonderfully insightful. These I would like to share.
In Pelizzon's essay, she is delighted to find poems by Louise Bogan and Langston Hughes among the "thirties bric-a-brac." Poetry is the foremost poetry journal in this country, even after a century. And it is fitting that Eliot is so perceptifvely discussed by Mr. Kirsch. Eliot changed the direction of poetry in this country, he and his friend Ezra Pound. I would argue that they did poetry no favor.
Now we come to the comment I would share from Esther Cameron, editor of Deronda Review. She laments the absence of lay readers. Lay readers? Where are they? Is it only poets who read other poets? And if that is so, cannot the blame be placed squarely on the shoulders of T. S. Eliot?
And yet, and yet . . . .
When I first was introduced to "the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" as a college freshman, I was bewildered. And even after the poem was explained, I could feel little sympathy for this ineffectual character, so full of inaction and self-pity. And yet, when in graduate school I heard Allan Tate read the poem, I finally listened with some appreciation. Yes, we all should be able to hear mermaids singing.
If you are near a library that takes Poetry, seek out the January copy and enjoy this very special issue.
Let there be Lay Readers among us. Thanks for listening.
Nancy
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