Written any good love poetry lately?
Anthony Esolen of Touchstone Mag (a recent, and very rewarding discovery) has his doubts. I do too. You think what you wrote was good, just because your special someone bought it? HA! To think that you had the nerve to call that mushy smack "love poetry!" Read this and weep.
Assuming that you are not a shade, and enjoy what we call "popular culture" in the 21st century, you probably don't have what it takes. All the more reason to cram Shakespeare. Who knows, with Feb. 14 coming up, you could get lucky. ;)
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Your Love Poetry Stinks
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2 comments:
OK, yeah, great reminder. I think I'll ask my fabulous poetry students to take on the challenge!
But, seriously, I had a 17th. cent. poetry prof. who had a really compelling theory about why there's no good love poetry now. He said that all through the Renaissance, good old Petrarch & Dante & their cronies wroet out of the power & inspiration of frustration, from their unrequited love. Then along came the 17th century, when fat Ben J. & his "Sons" & the "Cavaliers" wrote their poetry of requited -- & consummated -- love. & that, this prof. thought, put an end to all the pent-up energy & poured out a whole lot of love poetry, & then ran out of ideas, ran out of inspiration. & here we are. I mean, who have we had since Edna Et. Vincent Millay, except in a small or sidelined way?
But then again, that prof. was of the psychoanalyst school, so he was probably way too into repression....
~ Admonit
You could almost argue that the first poem and the last poem on the page are the same poem minus some measure of intelligence. Are we seeing a decay that should not be, or are we seeing the natural decay that occurs when God is "removed" from the mix, when love is made an end unto itself, and pleasure, not obedience, becomes the true measure of love?
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