This year's Costa Prize is remarkable for the poets who are spread across the genres - not least, Matthew Hollis for his excellent biography of Edward Thomas, the key poet of the English Line. But then there's John Burnside, up for a novel, or Patrick McGuinness, for best first novel. Pretty impressive stuff. However, the four poetry collections raise eyebrows. They are all by eminent British poets, to be sure - David Harsent, Sean O'Brien, Jackie Kay, and Carol Ann Duffy. But the claim is that the awards go to the most "enjoyable" books of the year. This doesn't compute. Clare Pollard and Roddy Lumsden, to name just two world-class poets, had thrillingly readable books this year. Indeed, Eyewear received dozens of imaginative, playful, fun, and delightful collections in 2011, including Wendy Cope's superb Family Values, that are more enjoyable than the four selected. Daljit Nagra? I fear that poets will never reach a wider audience among the general public when poetry judges continue to opt for over-worthy, safe, and sometimes leaden collections. The daring of the younger British poets is simply not matched by the establishment perspective, or, in this case, judges who clearly do not have their fingers on the pulse of the moment.
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 can't hope to compete with Desmond's eloquence, but I'd like to make a couple of points on the subject of commenting. When Katy Evans-Bush read her poetry in Swansea, I spent some time drinking and chatting with her. She told me that she welcomes comments on her blog and doesn't like not getting any. Therefore I think that readers of poetry (or any other) blogs have a mild moral obligation to leave a comment when they are able to do so. The comments don't need to be blindingly original or memorable - they are simply a way of letting the author know that you have read and enjoyed their latest post and, just occasionally , might even generate a wider discussion.
Best wishes from Simon
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I am a fairly new veiwer of your blog and hadn't really recognised the lack of comments. I agree with Simon's comment and will endevour to contribute when I can,
Best wishes, Roy