[New-Poetry] Re: MFA

[jfq at myuw.net]

I don't think that there is anything wrong with studying poetry and in fact I don't think it's possible to write well without studying poetry, even if one is not studying poetry.

MY objection, and i don't want to speak for anyone else, is to the *way* that poetry is studied in an MFA program, with a heavy focus on craft and workshopping, a secondary focus on certain aspects of whatever kind of critical theory piques the individuals attention, and more often than not, only a tertiary interest in surveying the field of poetry as it currently exists. I just think that one can do better as an autodidact because a.) workshops are a crapshoot at best and b.) if one really is interested in pursuing a post-graduate degree, pursuing specialized knowledge in another field is better for a writer than is spending many hours a week internalizing the poetic instincts of their peers, which may or may not be any better than the poets own instincts. What's that TS Eliot quote about how a poet reads spinoza? anyway, just wanted to clarify that my beef isn't with studying poetry, it's that i think there are better and worse ways of going about that.


On Mon, 2 Oct 2006, Anny Ballardini wrote:

>
> As I said some time ago I don't think there is anything strange in wanting to study. What I find strange is that on a New Poetry list so many people express negative statements against those who are committed in an MFA in poetry.
>
> I would even support people studying engineering, or medicine or mathematics or physics, and before saying that they are not poets I would read their poetry.
>
> This seems so wise to me. Don't tell me that I am approaching wisdom. Just like that.
>
>  From: AlMaginnes at aol.com
>  Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 12:34 PM
>
>
>  It might be better that strudying with one's idols often does involve disappointment. Might push you out the door toward your own path a bit sooner.
>
>
>
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