Old Masters and Young Geniuses by Galenson David W.; Galenson David W. W.;
Author:Galenson, David W.; Galenson, David W. W.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2006-08-14T16:00:00+00:00
POETS
Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape
from emotion; it is not the expression of personality,
but an escape from personality.
T. S. Eliot, 191958
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
Robert Frost, 193959
Each year since 1988, a different American poet has served as guest editor for a series of books titled The Best American Poetry. For the 2000 edition David Lehman, the series editor, asked each of the past guest editors to list what they considered the best 15 American poems of the twentieth century. Ten of the guest editors submitted such lists, and these were published, together with a similar list chosen by the series editor.60
If we consider the entries on the lists as votes, The Waste Land ranks as the most important single poem, by appearing on 5 of the 11 lists. Overall, however, the total of 9 votes for T. S. Eliot’s poems places him below several other poets, including Robert Frost, who received 11 votes, and Wallace Stevens, who received 10. Yet no single poem by either Frost or Stevens appears on more than two lists. Lehman recognized that this posed a puzzle, as he observed that although the greatness of Frost and Stevens was widely recognized, there was no agreement as to which of their poems was paramount.61
Lehman did not consider why a single poem by Eliot accounted for more than half of the total votes he received, or why Frost and Stevens appear to have been masters without masterpieces. The analysis presented in this book, however, suggests the explanation that Eliot was a conceptual innovator, while Frost and Stevens were experimental innovators. A recent quantitative study of the careers of modern American poets supports this explanation for these three poets and more broadly demonstrates the applicability of this analysis to poets. Its results can be surveyed in part here.
The distinction between conceptual and experimental poets is closely related to that for painters. Conceptual poetry typically emphasizes ideas or emotions, and often involves the creation of imaginary figures and settings, whereas experimental poetry generally stresses visual images and observations, based on real experiences. Conceptual poetry often stems directly from a study of earlier poetry, while experimental poetry is more often motivated by perception of the external world. Conceptual poetry is more often abstract, and aimed at universality, while experimental poetry is generally concrete, and concerned with specifics. Conceptual poets are more likely to compose deductively, effectively working backward from a preconceived conclusion, whereas experimental poets often wish to find the conclusion of a poem during the process of composition. Conceptual poets may privilege technique and use formal or artificial language, whereas experimental poets are more likely to emphasize subject matter, and to use vernacular language.
The quantitative analysis of poets’ careers that will be presented here is based on examination of 47 anthologies of poetry, published since 1980, that survey at least the entire modern era.62 Eight modern American poets will be considered here, and table 6.3 demonstrates that they are all clearly considered important by the editors of the anthologies.
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