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Adonis and the Literary Elite
I’m always grateful for news about the great Syrian poet Adonis, though this article by Charles McGrath is just perfunctory enough to be annoying. The author compares Adonis—a poet who has dragged Arabic poetry into modernity and taken an intellectual stand against the violent and regressive forces in contemporary Arab culture—to the likes of Paul Muldoon and Jorie Graham, who—so far as I know—have never (unlike Adonis) taken political stands that landed them in prison or produced poems that both radically critique the culture from which they spring and offer a positive alternative vision.Read More
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The Great Debate
No, not Obama v. McCain, but this (a repost of a November 2007 post by Bill Knott on his blog today [links not in the original]): Randall Jarrell, writing in 1941: ”Realizing that the best poetry of the [1920s] was too inaccessible, we can will our poetry into accessibility—but how much poetry will be left when we finish? Our political or humanitarian interests may make us wish to make our poetry accessible to large groups . . . . “ The debate—whether one should strive to make one’s verse accessible—still rages of course.Read More
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Duty and Delight
Thankfully, Bill Knott has resurrected his blog, where he has been posting links to those of his collections that he is making available through his storefront at Lulu.com (both as bound volumes and as free PDF downloads). He’s also reposting some good material from his old blog.Read More