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caryne
Old Love
United Kingdom
1520 Posts |
 Posted - 05/01/2010 : 15:15:38
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quote:
Originally posted by rocker
Martin..I'd like to ask what's your "dissert" on ?
If it's on W H Auden, I have to say rather him than me, not a poet I enjoy at all and I'd find it all rather heavy going. |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 16:19:50
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......though I have always enjoyed Auden's Night Mail - his jaunty little rhyme about the the overnight London to Glasgow mail train.....and all the news, commerce, love and friendship borne by the thousands of letters it was carrying. Of course today's younger generations are largely denied such romance and excitement......by the all pervading immediacy of the internet. 
The poem ends with these lines:
"For no one will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?" |
Edited by - John9 on 05/01/2010 16:21:11 |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 16:31:17
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...and also The Unknown Citizen......his 1939 reflection on just how easily individual identity can be subsumed into an over regulated society:
" Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd.
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard."
(I'll stop now before I get too carried away!) |
Edited by - John9 on 05/01/2010 16:31:53 |
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Martin Pravda
Fourth Love
United Kingdom
104 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 17:10:55
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Hah, it's on the socialist poets of the ninteen thirties, W.H.Auden being the most prominent but I'm also looking at poets like Stephen Spender, Cecil Day Lewis and a few of the poets from the Spanish Civil War. W.H.Auden is a favorite of mine, I especially like the Unknown Citizen but my favorites are "September 1st 1939" and "Spain". Auden did get very heavy as he got older, but like the others in the thirties I find his early poetry very assessable, and just with a few lines he can make me really think about the most complicated issues from a new perspective - which is powerful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWtVYYoJFl4
Check out this really nice reading of "September...". |
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caryne
Old Love
United Kingdom
1520 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 18:10:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Martin Pravda
Hah, it's on the socialist poets of the ninteen thirties, W.H.Auden being the most prominent but I'm also looking at poets like Stephen Spender, Cecil Day Lewis and a few of the poets from the Spanish Civil War. W.H.Auden is a favorite of mine, I especially like the Unknown Citizen but my favorites are "September 1st 1939" and "Spain". Auden did get very heavy as he got older, but like the others in the thirties I find his early poetry very assessable, and just with a few lines he can make me really think about the most complicated issues from a new perspective - which is powerful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWtVYYoJFl4
Check out this really nice reading of "September...".
Yes,I think you are right, he was more accessible in his youth and in small doses he can be very evocative. I think I prefer Day Lewis or Spender though, if I'm honest. |
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Martin Pravda
Fourth Love
United Kingdom
104 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 18:49:39
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Yeah, I love Spender, but he doesn't seem to be that well respected these days. Critics seem to think he is a period writer who was more of a failed propagandist, but I like it. Technically it isn't nearly as good as Auden, but I really connect with it. There is a straight forward human honesty about his work with a touch of flamboyance. I certainly find him the easiest just to pick up and read if i'm in the mood for it, where as Auden even at his most assessable requires quite heavy thought which I can't always be bothered with!  |
Edited by - Martin Pravda on 05/01/2010 18:50:00 |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 19:20:18
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| Very good..so what will you say about Auden in your work? He appears to be a man very sensitive to the period he lived in. His literary powers show it. Where do you think he fits in with the rest of the poets? TS Eliot for example? Arguably "The Wasteland" is a mighty poem. can you compare the two? |
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caryne
Old Love
United Kingdom
1520 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 19:23:26
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quote:
Originally posted by rocker
Very good..so what will you say about Auden in your work? He appears to be a man very sensitive to the period he lived in. His literary powers show it. Where do you think he fits in with the rest of the poets? TS Eliot for example? Arguably "The Wasteland" is a mighty poem. can you compare the two?
That sounds like an exam question rocker!!! I'm sure Martin has enough of that as it is, 
I really don't like Eliot at all, I remembering having to plod through 'The Wasteland' when I was at University and found it a turgid read. |
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caryne
Old Love
United Kingdom
1520 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 20:25:08
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quote:
Originally posted by Martin Pravda
even at his most assessable
Sorry to be so damned pedantic Martin ( I spent years as a teacher) but I'm guessing you mean 'accessible' not 'assessable'? Unless I'm misunderstanding what you are saying here. |
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Martin Pravda
Fourth Love
United Kingdom
104 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 20:26:25
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haha, although I wouldn't mind having that kind of question in my upcoming exams! Much better than the stuff on post modernist work I've got coming up...
I am actually going to look at the differences between the thirties poets and the modernists like Elliott etc. In comparison the thirties poets are A LOT more accessible. I’m basically going to argue that the poetry reflected the revolutionary time period and the working class struggle at the time. And i'll closely look at the techniques they used to do this to argue that in itself the poetry was revolutionary.
I quite like Elliot's work but I read an excellent criticism by Terry Eagleton recently which tore it appart, and argued that its very existance was a disgrace to literature...which I thought was a bit over the top!  |
Edited by - Martin Pravda on 05/01/2010 20:32:56 |
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Martin Pravda
Fourth Love
United Kingdom
104 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 20:29:57
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quote:
Originally posted by caryne
quote:
Originally posted by Martin Pravda
even at his most assessable
Sorry to be so damned pedantic Martin ( I spent years as a teacher) but I'm guessing you mean 'accessible' not 'assessable'? Unless I'm misunderstanding what you are saying here.
Indeed, the spellchecker on microsoft word has contributed a lot to my degree! |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 22:05:20
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caryne...hey I thought my question was a fluffball for his thesis!!!
martin...You know Eliot and Auden were really very learned fellows if we read their poetry. I think one has to be up a bit on lit references so when I think on that working class issue I always wonder about how that went off. I'm not up too much on post-modern poetry but I'd guess there is some breaking down of tradition in their work, much different than in Auden and Eliot's time don't you think? If as you say they were revolutionary, they seemed to do it with tradition.
And here's one thing, I can certainly see "He Do The Police In Different Voices" as a great title if it came out today by a post-mod poet. Sounds real good. Fits in! And arguably who knows where Eliot could have been and his poem if "The Waste Land" wasn't "The Waste Land", eh?" |
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caryne
Old Love
United Kingdom
1520 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 22:09:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Martin Pravda
haha, although I wouldn't mind having that kind of question in my upcoming exams! Much better than the stuff on post modernist work I've got coming up...
I am actually going to look at the differences between the thirties poets and the modernists like Elliott etc. In comparison the thirties poets are A LOT more accessible. I’m basically going to argue that the poetry reflected the revolutionary time period and the working class struggle at the time. And i'll closely look at the techniques they used to do this to argue that in itself the poetry was revolutionary.
I quite like Elliot's work but I read an excellent criticism by Terry Eagleton recently which tore it appart, and argued that its very existance was a disgrace to literature...which I thought was a bit over the top!
I would go along with the ideas you are going to argue in your thesis.
As for Eagleton, I havn't read his criticism of Eliot that you refer to but I do have a lot of time for Eagleton and his ideas generally so I very much expect I would find lot to agree with there. |
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caryne
Old Love
United Kingdom
1520 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 22:13:11
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quote:
Originally posted by Martin Pravda
quote:
Originally posted by caryne
quote:
Originally posted by Martin Pravda
even at his most assessable
Sorry to be so damned pedantic Martin ( I spent years as a teacher) but I'm guessing you mean 'accessible' not 'assessable'? Unless I'm misunderstanding what you are saying here.
Indeed, the spellchecker on microsoft word has contributed a lot to my degree!
Ah, computers eh? When I wrote my University dissertations they had to be typed on an electric typewriter with all corrections made in 'Tippex'. You have it too easy these days |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2010 : 22:18:36
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quote:
Originally posted by caryne
I really don't like Eliot at all, I remembering having to plod through 'The Wasteland' when I was at University and found it a turgid read.
The Wasteland can be heavy going. But to me it is like one of those paintings that you keep returning to always to find something new. I first came across the poem in the mid 80s when Channel Four broadcast a wonderful series entitled Six Centuries of Verse...I've still got the accompanying book. They had one part of the poem - 'A Game of Chess' acted out and it has stayed with me almost like no other poetry. Sometime in the mid 90s, Irish thespian Fiona Shaw performed the whole thing on TV as a mesmerising monologue.
"HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME" |
Edited by - John9 on 05/01/2010 22:26:37 |
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Like movies, let's share your reading......
