Chris: Always good to hear from you, and I'm glad you haven't abandoned me. When you get a chance, send me a headshot or image of your new book for your post which will be up in the summer.
Terrific rumination/explication, not to be confused with a prose poem! As a writer who floats across boundaries of short forms but knows where each piece stands, and as an editor of a prose poem journal who parses submissions often tendered (it seems) by authors hoping to see what sticks, and screens for submissions that fit our proscription of "prose poem," I inhabit this world almost daily. The conundrum. So I appreciate your illumination. A lot. I probably would still teach "Lights" as lyric essay as I typically have, but will have some deeper insights into why it blurs boundaries even more than I'd appreciated. Which also illuminates the forever subjective nature of classification.
The writing that succeeds best has a clear authorial intent vs casting one's literary bread upon the editorial waters....gets a bit soggy....
Would love a fireside chat. This comes close. Thanks~
Sally. A very eloquent response to my post. Yes, you are still in the trenches.
The problem is far more complicated than I had space for. As I reread the piece, I realized I was really attacking inauthenticity in the poetry world, which I find is the natural extension of the narcissism that pervades our culture. There will never really be definitive distinctions between genres, which accounts for all the fun. Think of Baudelaire's Paris Spleen. Half the pieces would be considered flash fiction today or the short narrative nonfiction of a Parisian flaneur. But once Baudelaire calls his book petite poems in prose, once he mentions how all the pieces, though able to stand alone, work best when taken together, we must approach Paris Spleen as a book of prose poem.
Peter: I find it interesting to note what Helen Vendler said in her Poems, Poets, Poetry book, which I think addresses an argument for classification: Appendix 5. On Lyric Subgenres:
"This is a summary of the kinds of poems that lyric poets return to most frequently. It is convenient to be able to name a poem by its kind, because you can then compare it to others of the same kind."
Vendler values "convenience" in classifying poems by "its kind."
The musical equivalent might be comparing songs only sung in
Great quote and analysis, and, coincidentally, I picked up a used copy of Vendler's book DICKINSON, where she goes through a ton of poems, offering short analyses. Didn't even know it existed. It's a gem.
Chris: Always good to hear from you, and I'm glad you haven't abandoned me. When you get a chance, send me a headshot or image of your new book for your post which will be up in the summer.
Terrific rumination/explication, not to be confused with a prose poem! As a writer who floats across boundaries of short forms but knows where each piece stands, and as an editor of a prose poem journal who parses submissions often tendered (it seems) by authors hoping to see what sticks, and screens for submissions that fit our proscription of "prose poem," I inhabit this world almost daily. The conundrum. So I appreciate your illumination. A lot. I probably would still teach "Lights" as lyric essay as I typically have, but will have some deeper insights into why it blurs boundaries even more than I'd appreciated. Which also illuminates the forever subjective nature of classification.
The writing that succeeds best has a clear authorial intent vs casting one's literary bread upon the editorial waters....gets a bit soggy....
Would love a fireside chat. This comes close. Thanks~
Sally. A very eloquent response to my post. Yes, you are still in the trenches.
The problem is far more complicated than I had space for. As I reread the piece, I realized I was really attacking inauthenticity in the poetry world, which I find is the natural extension of the narcissism that pervades our culture. There will never really be definitive distinctions between genres, which accounts for all the fun. Think of Baudelaire's Paris Spleen. Half the pieces would be considered flash fiction today or the short narrative nonfiction of a Parisian flaneur. But once Baudelaire calls his book petite poems in prose, once he mentions how all the pieces, though able to stand alone, work best when taken together, we must approach Paris Spleen as a book of prose poem.
I do hope we meet up some time to go into this.
Peter: I find it interesting to note what Helen Vendler said in her Poems, Poets, Poetry book, which I think addresses an argument for classification: Appendix 5. On Lyric Subgenres:
"This is a summary of the kinds of poems that lyric poets return to most frequently. It is convenient to be able to name a poem by its kind, because you can then compare it to others of the same kind."
Vendler values "convenience" in classifying poems by "its kind."
The musical equivalent might be comparing songs only sung in
the same key?
Great quote and analysis, and, coincidentally, I picked up a used copy of Vendler's book DICKINSON, where she goes through a ton of poems, offering short analyses. Didn't even know it existed. It's a gem.
I enjoyed your essay, Peter, and I dare say you have
just thrown a lit match into a box of fireworks.
Your argument that genre matters in the reception
of a work is true in all fields of creative endeavors
such as music.
When someone mentions "shoegaze" or "bossa nova,"
they're conveying a set of sonic expectations, emotional
qualities, and historical associations in just a few words.
Linguistic shorthand facilitates a shared vocabulary.
Take Spotify, for example. Streaming algorithms rely
heavily on genre tags to connect audiences with music
they're likely to enjoy.
Thanks for the introduction to Stuart Dybek.
A truly excellent response. Loved the way you applied the reasoning to other mediums. Bravo!
I’ve been enjoying these pieces. Love Stuart’s work.