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My philistine crackpot theory is that the printing press turned poetry from a mass-participation living art into a weird modern-art niche, gradually over a few
by abecedarius 9y ago
My philistine crackpot theory is that the printing press turned poetry from a mass-participation living art into a weird modern-art niche, gradually over a few centuries. The process was already advanced by the 19th century (thus you see Coleridge and Wordsworth wanting to get back in touch with living language). Modern poetry seems to me like visiting MOMA in New York: most of it not worth puzzling over, until you reach the 100+-year-old works on the top floor.
I'm surely missing some great stuff, but I support your feeling of not getting it.
- komali2 9y agoHaha, I feel the EXACT same way about modern art! My instinctual reaction is just like I said - "am I the only one who is noticing the emperor is naked?" But experience has tempered my arrogance so I want to work a couple more years on "getting" giant white canvases splattered randomly with paint before I just dismiss it all forever.
- abecedarius 9y agoFor my sins, here's a recentish poetry book I liked: https://www.amazon.com/Olives-Poems-Stallings/dp/0810152266 https://www.amazon.com/Olives-Poems-Stallings/dp/0810152266
- TheOtherHobbes 9y agoIn the early classical world, epic poetry was how history was remembered. Epic poets would spend years memorising the stories and the tropes and improvising a performance on cue. Some performances lasted for hours (there being no Internet to distract anyone.) The tradition started changing when poetry started to be written and published - by hand, initially - and then, as you say, it changed again when the printing press made it easy to distribute. But it's worth remembering that it's basically an oral performance art, not just something to be read. Live, it's a completely different experience, and can be far more powerful.