Fourteen on Form: Conversations with Poets is an interesting book consisting of interviews with some of the most influential poets of the late twentieth century.
I enjoy reading interviews with poets and learning about their thought processes and about the poets themselves.
W.D. Snodgrasswrites, “Well, in my opinion, the poet should offer readers something they can’t get anywhere else….I think this is crucial for the writer, and the problem is that a new idea doesn’t turn up more than once every three hundred years, and once it’s stated, it’s not very interesting to simply restate it….So it seems to me, that the best way to make an “old” idea useful and “new” and interesting is for the writer to find a new set of details- that reaffirm the concept, and that create a new way to arrive at the familiar conclusion. The only other possibility is to create a new style, and, since I believe that style equals personality, this will also individualize the idea in the same way that a unique set of details will. This is also where meter and form come in, because it’s in the unique application of those stylistic choices and their arrangements into language that personality and emotion can express themselves. And it’s also how the writer can offer readers something that’s different – something that’s worth their while.”
http://www.amazon.com/Fourteen-Form-Conversations-William-Baer/dp/1604732563/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293493932&sr=8-1
I enjoy reading interviews with poets and learning about their thought processes and about the poets themselves.
W.D. Snodgrasswrites, “Well, in my opinion, the poet should offer readers something they can’t get anywhere else….I think this is crucial for the writer, and the problem is that a new idea doesn’t turn up more than once every three hundred years, and once it’s stated, it’s not very interesting to simply restate it….So it seems to me, that the best way to make an “old” idea useful and “new” and interesting is for the writer to find a new set of details- that reaffirm the concept, and that create a new way to arrive at the familiar conclusion. The only other possibility is to create a new style, and, since I believe that style equals personality, this will also individualize the idea in the same way that a unique set of details will. This is also where meter and form come in, because it’s in the unique application of those stylistic choices and their arrangements into language that personality and emotion can express themselves. And it’s also how the writer can offer readers something that’s different – something that’s worth their while.”
http://www.amazon.com/Fourteen-Form-Conversations-William-Baer/dp/1604732563/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293493932&sr=8-1
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