[New-Poetry] Re: a dead ear for scansion

[Skip Fox]

I have loved the responses to this thread. Even when I disagree. But mostly
the discussions of how other vocal elements in the lines/syllables (like
durative measure or pitch) are overlooked. Which leads one to think of the
richness and delicacy of the interactions of multiple word values that poets
call forth in all their best phrasings. Symphonic! Which leads one to wonder
how conscious a good poet is of these matters when he or she is writing. I'd
argue that being very directly (left- or forward-brain conscious) would make
the task seem insurmountable, like playing 5-dimentional chess.

 

Which leads me to the question (Tad's?) of whether we need it or not. (I
argued that it might help if consumed by the poet and not later applied like
a mechanical engineer might, unless one is into neo-formalism and can't hear
the beats without the aid of the thumbs or whatever. Well, that's what I
should have argued.)

 

Which brings me back to where I jumped in arguing for the EAR over books.
Not that books can't point or help realize nuances. But that we all really
hear these stresses anyway and poets should learn to know how to listen. Not
knocking the wisdom of elders and wisers, it seems to me that the foundation
is best recognized (as though previously known) in the self. And this, for
me, would go for sound, idea, next choice for word or meal, companion,
appraisal of others, etc. I'd sure listen to others, but finally (and I hope
fairly) sound  the matter on (in?) the self. As Robert Duncan wrote, we must
first be the authors of our own authority.  Very romantic, I know, but there
it is.

 

Sorry if I seemed dogmatic on this. As a young man I wrote hundreds of
pieces that scanned and maybe learned something from that (people say one
must learn the rules before breaking them, but I'm not so sure), but I don't
care that much about scansion these days except to show a class how to do it
(quick and dirty-I'll probably bring up some of the issues raised here about
stress's interaction with other aural elements for upper-division and
graduate students). But this is an issue which ties into my fear that we too
easily abdicate the responsibility for seeing with ourselves, and one way of
doing so is (we are book lovers, after all) giving books priority over what
we see or think, maybe to the point for some that it is hard to see or think
anymore.

 

My too/two sense/cents. :)    

 

 

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