Poets, Poetry - are we going to be inflicted with this?

[Zeno]

I have to put up with a lot, to please the touchy breed of poets. -Horace

[John Feeney]

Here's one of a couple of poetry-related things I've been meaning to post. This is from The Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive:

http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/jtap/

The cool thing is that it allows you to see a great poet's rough drafts. This is fascinating if you have any previous familiarity with any of his work. Lucky for me he's one of the very few poets with whom I do have some familiarity, only because I learned his anti-war poem, "Dulce Et Decorum Est" in high school, and wrote a little paper on him. Here you can see that poem with the links just below leading to various drafts:

http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/jtap/warpoems.htm#12

I haven't really studied the drafts to see the progression; I just like being able to see some of his thinking about word choices.

Another of his poems that I really like is "The Send-Off"

An interesting question is whether it's a good or a bad thing to reveal an artist's unfinished work that way. A couple of years ago I was talking to a former poster here, "small caps" scott. As a poet/writer himself, he thought it was awful to 'lift the curtain' that way. I think his view was something to the effect that the finished product expresses what the artist intended, while rough drafts are not something the artist meant for others' consumption. Well, I think there was more to his view, but I don't think I can articulate it without sitting here for a half hour mulling it over. Anyway, I like the site. Hope you enjoy the affliction. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

[John Feeney]

I think a rough translation of "Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori" is "It is sweet and becoming to die for your country."

[John Cole]

John,

This is a fine site. Thanks. Here's a link to Ezra Pound's poem that uses the "pro patria" phrase.

http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/fight/fight.html

Also, perhaps the finest book on the literature of WWI is The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell who has also written one of the best poetry handbooks available. Fussell, a scholar, critic, and WWII vet, analyzes how the war and the style of warfare influenced the writers and poets of the age. Especially compelling is Fussell's look at how trench warfare ties into the literature of the period. Here's a link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195133323/ref%3Dase%5Fallianceforli-20/002-3863655-5918412

John

[Zeno]

I did enjoy the poems and the site. The various manuscripts add some interest, but I think most people would tire of the "development process" and find it uninteresting. My opinion.

As an addendum, was not Walt Witman's "Leaves of Grass" a lifelong project that was subject to many revisions, additions, tinkering etc. A sort of work in progress of the poet and his life - a peak through the curtain or a splitting of the veil. I have never read his book.

Prose is my addiction. Thanks for the afflication. I leave you a benediction. RAT-a-TAT-TAT for WAR.

-Zeno

[John Feeney]