[New-Poetry] 100 Poets You Should Know

[David Bircumshaw]

> Geoffrey Hill
>
> Andrew Motion
>
> from the sublime to the ridiculous, but it starts the list.

Yeah, I'd be circumspect about following that latter direction: he's a kind
of significant cultural figure over here rather than a significant poet. But
as for lists, ah, well, deep breath:

Poets either living or more or less so with a substantial presence on the
global English radar:

Heaney (you have to let him in - he bores me often too); Walcott; Les Murray
(the very prolific, although the only collection of his I'd ever approach
enthusiasm about is 'Translations from the Natural World'); Ashbery, yes
(and he publishes far far too much); Muldoon (with marked reservations);
Hill ( with chilly admiration);

Poets on the edge of this group:

Prynne (and I can't make head or tail of much of his either); Edward Kamau
Braithwaite (the departed, I prefer his verve to Walcott's more sedate
rhythms); John Tranter (more as the editor of Jacket but also as the writer
of a small number of very fine poems); Peter Reading (maybe: although much
of work seems attitudinizing and sub-journalistic, technically he is
impressive,  and voluminous): Anne Carson ( a woman at last, and a
Canadian - those other North Americans - to boot); Bob Perelman (the
funniest of the 'Language' poets I've always thought); Denise Riley (?) - a
gamble this but the writer of a few poems of the first order; for long
service and loveability - W.S. Merwin and Edwin Morgan.

And then there are all those not on the radar but who should be, all those
many many.

Best

Dave



----- Original Message -----
From: "TheOldMole" <Opus40-01 at opus40.org>
To: "NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News &amp;Views"
<new-poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu>
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2007 2:29 AM
Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] 100 Poets You Should Know


> Geoffrey Hill
>
> Andrew Motion
>
> from the sublime to the ridiculous, but it starts the list.
>
> jforjames at aol.com wrote:
> > Bob, the International list I suggested should try to avoid personal
> > taste and sensibility, and try, as much as possible, to step back
> > and to survey what poets, for whatever reason, seem to be gathering
> > the most attention in our times.
> > That being said, I don't think this 'visible set' is always mutually
> > exclusive form the set of poets that really will
> > stand up over time. A net of hundred or so will surely have in it a
> > few keepers.
> >
> > For example, UK-centric, I'd put J.H.Prynne and Geoffrey Hill on my
> > list of the International 100.
> > Finnegan
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bob Grumman <bobgrumman at nut-n-but.net>
> > Bcc: jforjames at aol.com
> > Sent: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 7:29 pm
> > Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] 100 Poets You Should Know
> >
> > Jim, are you asking for 100 international poets a poet ought to make
> > sure he knows (as in a physicist should know algebra), or about 100
> > international poets a poet is likely to have heard of (as in you
> > should know where Port Charlotte Middle School if you live on the
> > corner of Hayworth and Midway--since it's less than a hundred yards
> > from there)? There is a huge difference between the two. Your previous
> > list had so few poets I think any poet ought to make sure he knows
> > that I was sure you had to mean the latter. And you have been
> > emphasizing visibility rather than quality, for the most part.
> >
> > --Bob
> >
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> Tad Richards
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>
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