tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3828266702422314264.post8726150237254382212..comments2023-05-18T10:33:28.033+01:00Comments on A Thing for Poetry: Why Do People Hate Poetry?David Clarkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00656839468664945706noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3828266702422314264.post-53834847155275300092016-01-26T12:27:34.331+00:002016-01-26T12:27:34.331+00:00I agree with you, Tim, that the publicity machines...I agree with you, Tim, that the publicity machines behind major prizes do have an unfortunate effect, showing us only a narrow range of the stuff that is out there for people to explore. It is incredibly difficult if you don't know contemporary poetry to negotiate your way around it. Even if you find a good book shop with a decent selection, how do you know what you are going to like if you are not already part of the 'scene'? This is where literary journalism has to do better, I think. As with prizes, the coverage is so limited that it isn't really helpful to readers who want to find their way through the mass of available publications. It also isn't helpful to readers if literary journalism spends most of its time telling them not to bother, because it's all too 'difficult' anyway.<br />Having said that, I don't think prizes serve us too badly in terms of what you might call 'acessibility' or potential interest to the public. Looking a the TSL shortlist this year, there's a book of sonnets by Paterson, Marc Doty's moving autobiographical poems about aging and bereavement, Sean O'Brien skewering our contemporary society and politics with his usual sardonic wit, Rankine's blistering account of racism in America. No shortage of quality or range of approach there. Pretty much something for everyone. And last year's Costa winner, Johnathan Edwards' 'My Family and Other Superheroes', apart from being really great, has lots of witty and relatable poems about family and belonging which I think anyone could 'get'.<br />As for Prynne, I know quite a few people who enjoy reading his work immensely. While I can't share their passion, I don't begrudge them it.David Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00656839468664945706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3828266702422314264.post-90860360792056456772016-01-26T07:50:21.886+00:002016-01-26T07:50:21.886+00:00I don't think all the other Arts are so differ...I don't think all the other Arts are so different. I've heard people (on R4's Saturday Review, for example) slam grand Opera as a whole. I never go to music concerts - that classical music stuff all sounds the same to me. Friends of mine never go to poetry readings. "Art Cinema" films are avoided by many people. At least Modern Art provides a topic for conversation. Walking around the Tate with mates can be fun. Reading Prynne ain't.<br /><br />People don't often see much "poetry". It erupts in the media every so often. When it does, those poems have an exaggerated effect on people's perceptions of what poetry is. I can easily believe people thinking "Well, if that's really the best poetry can offer, I'm not going to fork out 9.99 to read more." They might not see poetry again for a year.<br />Tim Lovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578925224900533603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3828266702422314264.post-2790975118934039832016-01-24T20:09:38.574+00:002016-01-24T20:09:38.574+00:00That sounds like a lovely way to spend the afterno...That sounds like a lovely way to spend the afternoon, Anonymous. Pure pleasure!David Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00656839468664945706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3828266702422314264.post-17823067553680741152016-01-24T20:08:56.864+00:002016-01-24T20:08:56.864+00:00Thanks for your comment, Tim.
I think you have poi...Thanks for your comment, Tim.<br />I think you have pointed to another issue related to people not liking poetry which, for reasons of brevity, I didn't discuss in my original post. Here again, I think we may be in danger of approaching poetry in a way which would seem odd if applied to any other art form.<br />For example, you may ask me if I like music. Yes, I like music. But I have definitely heard music I thought was unpleasant, tedious, badly performed, offensive even. Nevertheless, I have never heard a piece of music that made me think I didn't like music as a whole.<br />You seem to be arguing that, because there are artistically unsuccessful poems which individual readers fail to connect with, this will mean that they decide to dislike any poetry which might exist. I think some people do think this way, along the lines of 'I read a poem once and I didn't like it', but why have we have accepted the idea that the 'poetry lover' has to be someone who likes it all, and that poetry one doesn't like is not only unacceptable, but also that it damns a whole genre. It also seems curious to me that anyone should be called upon to defend poetry they themselves dislike in the name of defending poetry itself, as you suggest in relation to Neil Rollinson's work. I enjoy his poetry, and I know plenty of other people who do. But faced with someone who reckoned it was a load of old rubbish, I would be inclined to say, 'fair enough, why don't you try something else?' I certainly wouldn't think the future of poetry itself depended on a spirited defence of one poet.<br />On your point on poetry reviews, I moan about them enough myself. However, why does it surprise us that reviewers have different opinions of poetry, even rejecting titles which have been singled out for high praise elsewhere. It happens in every other art form I can think of. Ultimately, there is plenty of poetry of all kinds which individuals can take pleasure in. They don't need the authority of a reviewer or anyway else to enjoy it, or even not to enjoy it.David Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00656839468664945706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3828266702422314264.post-12995437526748967112016-01-24T19:47:16.672+00:002016-01-24T19:47:16.672+00:00Thanks for your comment, Marge. The fact that so m...Thanks for your comment, Marge. The fact that so many readers of poetry are also writers of poetry, whatever their ambitions in terms of sharing their work, is something we should celebrate. Happy Burns Night for tomorrow!David Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00656839468664945706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3828266702422314264.post-10132271428306468702016-01-24T17:20:31.791+00:002016-01-24T17:20:31.791+00:00I retired age the age of 69 years, lost for someth...I retired age the age of 69 years, lost for something to do, I joined a reading group. There I heard the phrase 'Readers are writers and writers are readers'. I was told about a Creative Writing group in the next village, run by the WEA. I joined, not expecting much as I had not written anything since I left school. To my delight, that first day I wrote a poem, was told that it was good!<br /><br />Since that day, I have written hundreds of poems and stories. Five years ago,I started a poetry group at my own Library, it is still going strong. One of the members has just began a poetry group in a nearby town - she had expected half a dozen people but, twenty three turned up.<br /><br />A lot of people I talk to, admit to writing poetry in secret, never showing it. I think maybe, among ordinary people more people read and write poetry.<br /><br />I am now happier to read a poetry book than a novel, my latest purchase has been Complete Works of Robert Burns (to coincide with tomorrow's Burns Night.<br /><br />My experience that studying poetry and writing poetry I have found respect and admiration. Only a few of my poems have been published, perhaps I do not qualify on the level of winners of big competition prizes. I am just telling you my experience.<br />margehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03376926451859705906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3828266702422314264.post-62427791391811604482016-01-24T16:53:24.050+00:002016-01-24T16:53:24.050+00:00Just want to say I have often met with the hostili...Just want to say I have often met with the hostility, or a sort of defensiveness, observed in David Clarke's excellent blog. and that I personally have spent this grey Sunday afternoon curled up on the sofa visitng and revisiting my favourite poets, nothing more pleasurable. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3828266702422314264.post-30089819941836249102016-01-24T16:18:21.246+00:002016-01-24T16:18:21.246+00:00"My experience has been that, when exposed to..."My experience has been that, when exposed to good poetry without the threat of a written test, most intelligent people enjoy what they hear" - that's not generally my experience. <br />After a round of comments on a poem at a little meeting, a non-poet attendee said something like "none of you have mentioned the most obvious thing about the poem. It's shaped in boxes. Why?" None of us could give an answer that satisfied him. <br />I distrust Costa-shortlisted Neil Rollinson when in Talking Dead he begins "Ode to a Magnolia Tree" with "Impatient/ as always,/ you blossom/ in the cold/ March air,/ even before/ your leaves/ have set" rather than "Impatient as always, you blossom in the cold March air, even before your leaves have set". Nathan Ellis (London Magazine) when writing of the same book, thought "The Coffee Variations ... a particularly ham-fisted poem which never really subverts its banal and bourgeois archness. So too does ‘Ode to a Piss’ do nothing to assuage its title’s lack of deftness". Agreed. And if we defend such practises and poems when non-poets express bafflement, no wonder their distrust can turn to something more cynical.<br /><br />When "The Poetry Review" prints stuff like "These poems speak in a voice of resonant mystery, detached yet tender" wine-tasters might feel they're being parodied. At least with opera, people can tell whether a performer can hit the notes or not. <br /><br />Observational stand-up has to survive a more testing reception than poetry books often do, which may explain why stand-ups sometimes appear to me to be more insightful, poetic and amusing than your average "witty, thoughtful" poem. <br /><br />And my wife doesn't like my poetry. It makes her angry :-(<br />Tim Lovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578925224900533603noreply@blogger.com