I go through phases in poetry, like most people do with music, I think. Ever since Election Day, when I went to vote at the library, I have been "into" Frank O'Hara. Because while at the WRPL, I took out a memoir (and haven't finished it yet -- since we're a month into the new administration...naughty librarian!) called "Disgressions on Some Poems by Frank O'Hara" by Joe LeSueur. Then I bought "Lunch Poems" and now I'm reading up on what other people say about Frank O'Hara.
This is from an essay, "Language and Style" by Alan Feldman
For O'Hara, "form" refers to the shape of thought within the poem, while "design" refers to the shape and sound of the words. Just as a poem can be formless, mere emotional ranting, so too it can be "smothered" in form when it follows a conventional pattern of thought. "Design," O'Hara declared, "is the point where the poet can hold his ground in the impasse between formal smothering and emotional spilling over"...
So, how does this go with things like "form" & "structure" as I've defined them during this Odyssey of mine? Not sure. I will be thinking about it as I continue reading the criticisms. Including one by Marjorie Perlhoff. I have this Ezra Pound biography podcast from her that I like to listen to while temping at the investment company. This is hilarious, since Ezra Pound thought usary was the root of all the world's evil (and it certainly is the root of the economic crisis). Anyway, I like her so I'm looking forward to that next essay
Just another Wednesday night. So very dorky of me.
This is from an essay, "Language and Style" by Alan Feldman
For O'Hara, "form" refers to the shape of thought within the poem, while "design" refers to the shape and sound of the words. Just as a poem can be formless, mere emotional ranting, so too it can be "smothered" in form when it follows a conventional pattern of thought. "Design," O'Hara declared, "is the point where the poet can hold his ground in the impasse between formal smothering and emotional spilling over"...
So, how does this go with things like "form" & "structure" as I've defined them during this Odyssey of mine? Not sure. I will be thinking about it as I continue reading the criticisms. Including one by Marjorie Perlhoff. I have this Ezra Pound biography podcast from her that I like to listen to while temping at the investment company. This is hilarious, since Ezra Pound thought usary was the root of all the world's evil (and it certainly is the root of the economic crisis). Anyway, I like her so I'm looking forward to that next essay
Just another Wednesday night. So very dorky of me.