[New-Poetry] Basil Bunting

[cris cheek]

Yes, the Oxford is Keith's work. It's going to stand in the way of  
contenders for some time yet. Not because it is perfect. No anthology  
could claim to be. Because it makes a great attempt to represent the  
full range of what's been going on on in British and Irish poetries  
throughout the 20th Century. And because the annotations, compiled by  
Nate Dorward are extremely fine.

Bunting's presence played an important role. Almost a reluctant one  
in that he did not seem to seek the limelight. The tale of Tom  
Pickard's encouragement is salutary.

Briggflatt's is simply "one" of the really great long poems written  
in England in the 20th Century.

cris


On Feb 6, 2009, at 4:28 PM, Jeff Newberry wrote:

> Cris--
>
> I agree.  The more I've read his work, the more I like it.  A few  
> people posted some psuedo-insults on the list, but I'm not deterred.
>
> Did Keith Tuma edit the volume that you mention?
>
> Best,
> Jeff
>
> On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 4:24 PM, cris cheek <cheekc at muohio.edu> wrote:
> Bunting IS in the best available anthology for 20th Century British  
> & Irish Poetry, the Oxford; alongside several other poets that  
> ought to be more widely discussed i the US . . . Brian Coffey, WS  
> Graham, Lyn Robert . . .
>
> go Jeff
>
> Bunting's ear is a fine one
>
> cris
>
>
> On Feb 2, 2009, at 11:11 AM, Jeff Newberry wrote:
>
>> I've been reading Keith Tuma's By Obstinate Isles:  Modern and  
>> Postmodern British Poetry and American Readers and his Anthology  
>> of Twentieth-Century British & Irish Poetry for my comprehensive  
>> examinations.
>>
>> I wanted to start a conversation about a few poets that I've been  
>> reading, poets who've not been on my radar until I started reading  
>> for my exams.  So, forgive me if some of my questions of  
>> observations seem elementary or self-evident.
>>
>> By far, one of the most fascinating poets I've come across is  
>> Basil Bunting, a name I'd never heard, despite my undergraduate  
>> and graduate years as an English major.  I like Briggflats quite a  
>> lot, though I'm still grappling with the poem.  Bunting's lines  
>> with their heavy stresses and Anglo-saxon vocabulary remind me of  
>> Pound's translation of "The Seafarer."  The poem itself is a  
>> Modernist epic (I think), so I think of Eliot and Pound immediately.
>>
>> But Bunting's concern with a particular place contrasts with  
>> Eliot's more "universal" (not quite the right word, I know--maybe  
>> "far-reaching?") concerns.  Bunting seems concerned primarily with  
>> this place (his place?):  Northumbria.  The poem burrows down into  
>> the landscape, carving itself into the land, not unlike the mason  
>> carving stone in the poem's opening lines.  Despite his concern  
>> with landscape, however, Bunting can't help bringing in a dose of  
>> mythology in a later part of the poem.  Indeed, the poem moves  
>> through seasons, cyclically, depending primarily on recieved  
>> notions--such as Spring being a time of rebirth and so on.
>>
>> So, I'm wondering, what are your thoughts on Bunting?  And why on  
>> earth is he so ignored?  He doesn't appear (a colleague tells me-- 
>> I've not checked) in the Norton Anthology of British Literature.   
>> Perhaps he's not ignored; perhaps I've just missed him.   
>> Nonetheless, I thought I'd try to open up a conversation about a  
>> poet who really has my ear right now.
>>
>> Best,
>> Jeff Newberry
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> <ATT00001.txt>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> New-Poetry mailing list
> New-Poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/new-poetry
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> You cannot tell people what to do, you can only tell them parables;  
> and that is what art really is, particular stories of particular  
> people and experience, from which each according to his own  
> immediate and peculiar needs may drawn his own conclusion. --W.H.  
> Auden
>
> <ATT00001.txt>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/pipermail/new-poetry/attachments/20090207/d8b32318/attachment.html