Poems at the Poetry Free-for-all - Dana Gioia on Poetry and the Vanishing of Print Culture

Rachel Lindley

02-22-2004, 07:04 AM

Interesting article, to a degree. I can't say I agree with him entirely on his presentation of literary poetry's fate, but I do agree that the various universities' stranglehold on literary poetry over the past century is collapsing, thank all that's good and right in this world. Of course, in the vacuum created by the transition, we'll likely be overrun with dreck, but that's natural. What's more, this oral fixation, as it were, has waxed and waned repetitively over the centuries, obviously for other reasons besides the tv and computer age, but still. Nothing new about that. As for the resurgence of metrical structure in poetry - it was only a blip on the radar that it faded behind free verse in the first place. That always tends to happen when something new emerges. Overkill. Then things slowly start to even out over time.

As for change in how poetry develops - again, why is this surprising? It always does. As is usually the case, the old school raises a ruckus to support the status quo and the new school raises a ruckus to tear it apart.

I guess what I'm saying is - does such an observation by Goia really require so much text? Isn't it obvious, and is it really a new occurrence or is it just more of the same constant evolution? Perhaps it's just that I find such essays redundant, rather like someone at the office looking up at me when I walk in dripping wet and saying, "Oh, is it raining?"

Rachel

Jee Leong

02-22-2004, 04:31 PM

Hi Howard,
thanks for the link to the essay.

Many trends cited in the essay have been noted elsewhere: the rise of the new media vs the decline of print culture, the rise of 'popular' poetry such as slam vs the 'decline' of literary poetry etc. What is new to me is Goia's refreshingly 'neutral' yet engaged take on it, as opposed to the alarmist or triumphalist tone often adopted by partisans. It makes me take seriously his articulation of the situation, and reflect on what it means to me, writing in this moment.

Goia points out that contemporary poetry can be classified into four groups based on attitudes towards literacy and orality: (1) performance (2) spoken word (3) 'audio-visual' and (4) typographical/language. They are obviously on a continuum. This conceptualisation helps me to place my own work on this spectrum and then to question it. How would writing poems to be recited change my work (if at all)? The obvious answer is to pay close attention to sonics, not a new consideration.

I recall a minor incident in a recent workshop. The workshoppees were commenting on my poem 'Sexual Harrassment' (which I posted in 'High'). A line reads:

'the law's, and his, displeasure'

A participant, young, fully immersed in the new media and poetries Goia was describing, pointed out that 'law's' would be heard as 'laws' in an oral reading, which will change the meaning of the line completely. I did not think of that at all, so sure that the apostrophe will be read on the page, and therefore heard (!). It is a small event, but it reminds me of the assumptions that undergird my writing.

BrianIsSmilingAtYou

02-23-2004, 04:50 AM

I agree quite strongly with this analysis, with a small caveat.

For one thing, I am not particularly familiar with the academic stream of poetry, apart from some small exposure at school. I don't play "guess the poet", for example, because I cannot, not having read the works of the poets that generally appear in those types of threads, unless they have been referenced on the boards. When I make reference to such poets in posts, my references rely on my prodigious memory enhanced by google, and are probably excessively obvious to the better-read members of the boards.

Consequently, my approach to my own work is consistent with the newly evolving sensibility that Gioi references. My touchstones come from popular music, science fiction, Tolkien, and computational models of language as present in AI research and cognitive science (and now, things that I have seen on PFFA). When it comes to specific forms, such as the sonnet or haiku, my approach is two-fold: I examine the form analytically, and I apply my understanding of sonics and language to attempt to present something that is aesthetically pleasing (as I see it). I also try to have something to say.:)

It is this second part of my approach that is consistent with the emerging sensibility that Gioi explores; my love of Tolkien brought me into the world of alliterative verse, such as Beowulf. This was a revelation to me, and it was in understanding this (in opposition to the "everything must rhyme" view of poetry) that led me to a better appreciation of poetry as involving a variety of linguistic features. This type of verse is closely related to many of the oral forms that Gioi explores, such as rap and cowboy poetry. (Accentual verse, 4 stresses, sonic features to enhance the stress etc.)

My own experience is that this oral form works very well in performance; I recently went to another reading that RachelB and Sestina organized, and read a revised version of my own "Stone in the Wood", which is written according to this form (with modifications), and it went over extremely well, with people particularly remarking on the sound.

The caveat to my acceptance of this analysis is the emergence of forums such as PFFA and other serious poetry forums on the Internet, which reinforce a written and "literary" conception of poetry (when they are successful).

This is not necessarily inconsistent with the emergence of the new oral tradition; it just presents an additional alternative to the University track. The importance of this to me in relation to the emergence of poetry readings and the oral tradition is that I would not have gone to a poetry reading at all, except that RachelB had initially invited me due to the random connection we had made on the board. My own exposure to emerging poetry, therefore, is primarily what I see on PFFA and other similar forums (with PFFA being 95% of that exposure).

BrianIs:)AtYou