Wisdom from Gregory Corso (GC) and Allen Ginsberg (AG). Corso and Ginsberg have just discovered that their Naropa students (in 1975) aren’t familiar with Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind”, which occasions the following exchange:
AG: “The Ode to the West Wind” — when I was going to high school that was standard.
GC: Standard
AG: Everybody would get that in the ’40’s. They didn’t teach that in high school? What are they teaching?
Student: Your stuff.
AG: In high school?
Student: Sure, in high school, that’s what they’re teaching.
AG: That’s a degeneration.
GC: You gotta get your sources.
AG: You add it on, not replace.
Of course, in America we seldom add on. We scrape and replace….
Demolition of “iconic” summer home of New Jersey Gov. Edward C. Stokes in Belmar, New Jersey, constructed in 1882. |