[New-Poetry] for the Bob-list

[David Graham]

>> I could make a list of techniques I consider still new in poetry-- 
>> doing things with the color of letters, for instance, to mention a  
>> simple one, but I'm not up to it.  So I'll end with a request of  
>> you: post a poem that you think valuable that doesn't do anything  
>> new.
>>
>> --Bob G.
>>>
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So it seems to be as I suspected, that you don't acknowledge any  
value that is not related to novelty. Thus, when I ask you to cite an  
example of something "valuably old," your response is to ask *me* to  
do so instead--presumably so you can knock it down.  Which confirms  
my original suspicion, that your phrase "valuably new" doesn't mean  
anything beyond "new."  And that novelty is your only or chief  
criterion of excellence.

I'm willing to be corrected on this.  All you need to do is define  
some poetic values that are not synonyms for novelty.  And concede  
that it is possible for a poem to be great without being  
significantly new.

I don't really *need* to cite any examples, believing as I do that  
literature is news that stays news.  You just need to open any  
standard anthology and examples will swarm.  But since I am an  
amiable sort, I give you the following, which I think we could  
probably agree is not "new" in any significant sense, and was not  
when it was written, either:

Delight in Disorder

A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction:
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthralls the crimson stomacher:
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly:
A winning wave, deserving note
In the tempestuous petticoat:
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility:
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.

--Robert Herrick




========================================
David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu

Home Page:
http://web.mac.com/drjazz

Poetry Library:
http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/DGPoLibrary.html
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