This is the 1,600th post at Eyewear. In the year 1600, the anthologist Allott published Englands Parnassus; or, The Choysest Flowers of our Moderne Poets, with their Poeticall Comparisons. And Sumo wrestling began. Let's hope this blog gets to 2,000. Or at least its 5th anniversary!
When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se. What do I mean by smart?
Comments
I have been brooding on Jeffrey Side's remark that it was a 'happy coincidence' that several young poets selected by Roddy Lumsden for Identity Parade were subsequently snapped up by Bloodaxe, Salt and Seren. Of course it was no coincidence at all but simply another egregious example of how the British Poetry Establishment operates. I never cease to be astonished by the fuss surrounding some young poets who have managed to complete one collection when poets like me, who have written ten, are systematically ignored.
Best wishes from Simon
I can see no real need for Identity Parade to exist. It seems to be a Bloodaxe marketing exercise, consisting of largely unknown or marginal poets.
No offence intended to these individual poets, by the way. I'm sure they are very nice people.