Like you, I came across this poem over the weekend, but had no chance to read it until last night, when I e-mailed both you and Robert Pinsky about it, under the assumption that you both probably knew about it by then, and you've confirmed your half of that assumption.
The reason for sending it to Pinsky, is that, as you may recall, he did a study and a tour shortly after 9/11, on poetry that would apply to such event. He brought out, among many others, Edwin Arlington Robinson's villanelle The House on the Hill, which still to me gets to the heart of 9/11--at the time anyway--more than any other poem I have read. I await his reaction, whether through e-mail, at the Dodge Festival if he's there, or in an article he may write through his interest.
At this point, the significance of Armitage's poem is in that it is to be a public poem, prepared as a laureate might, for the upcoming occasion. So, it has to fly next Monday at the event, when Rufus Sewell reads it. Will it whelm the public, or will they even notice?
I found the poem very artsy-crafty, and it grabbed me from the beginning and took me through the whole way. The point about focussing in on a concrete specific--here the experience of dying in the World Trade Center on 9/11--can make for good poetry, as it does when poets zoom in on anything. My fault with the piece at this point, is that Armitage could have chosen a specific victim, maybe interviewing the family or just reading a detailed interview of one whom called home.
Also, I thought Carol Ann Duffy was the front-runner to replace Andrew Motion in 2008. I was wrong.
I agree that it's artsy-crafty. I would even go further and say it's contrived. I also did not sense any great sympathy for the unnamed prtagonist, who is shown at the start as having a very superior attitude and sort of gets his comeupppance. The poem really rubbed me the wrong way.
Hi Frank,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I came across this poem over the weekend, but had no chance to read it until last night, when I e-mailed both you and Robert Pinsky about it, under the assumption that you both probably knew about it by then, and you've confirmed your half of that assumption.
The reason for sending it to Pinsky, is that, as you may recall, he did a study and a tour shortly after 9/11, on poetry that would apply to such event. He brought out, among many others, Edwin Arlington Robinson's villanelle The House on the Hill, which still to me gets to the heart of 9/11--at the time anyway--more than any other poem I have read. I await his reaction, whether through e-mail, at the Dodge Festival if he's there, or in an article he may write through his interest.
At this point, the significance of Armitage's poem is in that it is to be a public poem, prepared as a laureate might, for the upcoming occasion. So, it has to fly next Monday at the event, when Rufus Sewell reads it. Will it whelm the public, or will they even notice?
I found the poem very artsy-crafty, and it grabbed me from the beginning and took me through the whole way. The point about focussing in on a concrete specific--here the experience of dying in the World Trade Center on 9/11--can make for good poetry, as it does when poets zoom in on anything. My fault with the piece at this point, is that Armitage could have chosen a specific victim, maybe interviewing the family or just reading a detailed interview of one whom called home.
Also, I thought Carol Ann Duffy was the front-runner to replace Andrew Motion in 2008. I was wrong.
Yours,
Rus
I agree that it's artsy-crafty. I would even go further and say it's contrived. I also did not sense any great sympathy for the unnamed prtagonist, who is shown at the start as having a very superior attitude and sort of gets his comeupppance. The poem really rubbed me the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteFrank--I have to agree with you. Contrived is a good word. Full of clever devices that call attention to themselves.
ReplyDeleteNot to my liking.
best,
lisa
Frank, it rubs me the wrong way too...contrived, a bit slick, and not a poem I'd expect for the occasion.
ReplyDeletePat Jones
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ReplyDeleteHi Frank,
ReplyDeleteYou know about the e-mail in my response:
Call 911: Beck, Armitage, & Stevie Ray Vaughn Out of the Blue
Bud