[New-Poetry] Gilbert

[Suzanne Burns]

On 8/30/06, David Graham <grahamd at ripon.edu> wrote:

The vagaries of fame are always a puzzle, but I seem to recall that Jack
> Gilbert was at least a collaborator in the fate of his own reputation.
> After winning what was at the time *the* most coveted poetry award, didn't
> he more or less turn his back on Po-Biz for a long long time?
>
> And didn't this Garbo-like move help, in fact, to cement his
> reputation?  In
> any case, this underrecognized poet has in his time managed to snag the
> Yale
> Younger Prize, a Guggenheim, N.E.A. & other fellowships, the National Book
> Critics Circle Award, and a couple Pulitzer nominations, among other
> plums.
>
> Nothing against Gilbert's work, but I do have a hard time seeing him as in
> any real sense unappreciated.



I don't see him as underappreciated per se (he tends to be a favorite among
poets), but aside from the Yale Prize and the fellowships (you forgot the
Lannan!) he was passed up for the bigger awards.  After The Great Fires, I
found this puzzling.

Considering that he got everything he did for a rather small output, though,
you do have a strong point.

<I>And didn't this Garbo-like move help, in fact, to cement his reputation?
</I>

Yes, and  personally I think that he deeply relishes his "outsider"
reputation, and tends to make a point of bringing it up in every interview.
He is awfully fond of the words "fierce" and "stubborn".  There have been
many, many times when this has struck me as "protesting too much".

I think there is also a tendency among many of his biggest fans to idolize
what he stands for in their imagination almost as much as his poetry-- I
don't think Jack deliberately engineered this response, but I do think it is
true that everybody just loves the "Romantic" image of the Poet.

All that said, I am still glad to see what is likely to be his final book
given some big recognition.  He has so many "almosts", and I do think it is
earned.

My two bits,

Suzanne
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