Jeffrey Gray in the Chronicle of Higher Education:
Of the hundreds of entries my associate editors and I received from scholars of American poetry of all periods, some of the most satisfying discussed pre-20th-century poets and included characterizations like the following:
Nathaniel Evans (18th century) is “noted by most historians as a ‘fledgling versifier’ whose occasional verses were wholly ‘unremarkable.’” Elizabeth Akers Allen (19th century) “was considered a minor Victorian poet even by her contemporaries.” Her sentiments were “expressed competently, but with no attempt at innovation in style or content.” William Byrd’s (18th-century) “contribution to poetry is not at all significant.” Indeed, “he published merely a few short, uninteresting poems.”
My own favorite entry, on Gertrude Bloede (19th century), sums up a poet’s bad dream of posterity: “Interest in her work, always limited, declined after her death.”
Curiously, it is almost impossible to find such modest assessments when one turns to contemporary poetry. Indeed, the problem of neglect or insignificance evaporates in a situation in which, in spite of the vast numbers writing (800 to 1,000 books of poetry are published in the United States per year; thousands of other poets publish in journals and quarterlies), we have no minor poets. Everyone today, like those above-average children of Lake Wobegon, is brilliant and sui generis.
Everyone is or would like to be outside the system: “Throughout his career, Bill Knott (1940-) has maintained outsider status in American poetry. This is largely due to the fact that no literary camp can adequately house … his body of work.” Michael Burkard’s writing “does not fit comfortably within either of these categories [i.e., confessional and Deep Image poetry].” And Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s works “defy easy categorization.”
May it never be said of any of you that your work “transcends genre.”
[...] Jump to Comments In an otherwise astute post, Kerry Howley writes: May it never be said of any of you that your work “transcends [...]
Once I tried to write an academic paper that could be useful to people on a day-to-day basis. Thus another fingernail slipped off the edge of Sanity.
“Interest in her work, always limited, declined after her death.”
Interest in my cat, always limited, (he was boring and slept a lot) declined after he died.
but no one reads poets who are easily categorized and not the best in their categories. “Defies easy categorization” is obnoxious, but “like Walt Whitman, only not quite as good” tends to not sell in a world where people can just buy Walt Whitman. That’s why it’s just incredible to me that 800-1000 poetry books can be published each year; hardly anyone buys poetry books, and the ones who do could all buy the same one if there was agreement on who wrote the best poems. I guess the way to go is to have a small devoted fan base, or to live with your mother.
Off topic from this post, but I read your XX Factor post about “The Black Market in Home Decorating” and just wanted to say that attempts at legislation are mainly meant to apply to the design of commercial spaces where public safety is a consideration. There’s a BIG difference between residential interior design and commercial interior design, which includes hospitals, airports, retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and office buildings. The video from Reason was amusing, but limited the profession of interior design to just “decorating.”
Hey, nice tips. Perhaps I’ll buy a bottle of beer to the person from that chat who told me to go to your site
I didn’t write that ridiculous characterization of myself,
of course: publishers will put any nonsense on an author’s book without his permission . . .
in any case, if anyone might be interested,
all of my books of poetry can be downloaded for FREE from this page:
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=2254674
….
all these other poet make you pay cash to read their work,
but i give mine away!
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Usually it is the other way around. After death the interest rises.