A Poet's Fingerprint
I've been thinking about poets and their fingerprint/signature/tracks in the snow, today. To be more clear about what I'm thunking on about, I mean the style in which a person makes use of, knowingly or not, that defines their writing.
I'd know Kim Addonizio from just about anyone.
Same thing with Charles Wright, or Geoffrey Hill.
Their word choice, tone and cadence within many of their poems, and focus on a particular branch of subject matter flush them out. Not that there's supposed to be mystery to it.
Is there a poet out there that writes in many different styles, makes use of a variety of viewpoints, and each book they publish is so different from the rest, that you never know what will come from their pen next? If so, is this poet one that people enjoy?
I ask, because poets, much like singers/musicians, are sometimes expected to continue on through each successive work in much of the same vein as had come before. Many people get annoyed when a singer decides to change their style on their next album. What if they just want a change? What if they don't feel comfortable sticking within a particular way of singing or genre of music that they'd been originally known for? I'd suppose that kind of unpredicability wouldn't be as widely accepted or as marketable.
There are always exceptions. And I'd suppose that sort of shaking off of the norm would become a style of sorts.
I'd know Kim Addonizio from just about anyone.
Same thing with Charles Wright, or Geoffrey Hill.
Their word choice, tone and cadence within many of their poems, and focus on a particular branch of subject matter flush them out. Not that there's supposed to be mystery to it.
Is there a poet out there that writes in many different styles, makes use of a variety of viewpoints, and each book they publish is so different from the rest, that you never know what will come from their pen next? If so, is this poet one that people enjoy?
I ask, because poets, much like singers/musicians, are sometimes expected to continue on through each successive work in much of the same vein as had come before. Many people get annoyed when a singer decides to change their style on their next album. What if they just want a change? What if they don't feel comfortable sticking within a particular way of singing or genre of music that they'd been originally known for? I'd suppose that kind of unpredicability wouldn't be as widely accepted or as marketable.
There are always exceptions. And I'd suppose that sort of shaking off of the norm would become a style of sorts.
posted by Heather O'Neill | 9.11.05
7 Comments:
Are there good poets who write in completely different styles?
One poet who immediately comes to mind is Edwin Morgan. He seems able to turn his pen to anything - sonnet sequences, concrete poetry, wild experimental stuff, the love lyric, lyrical pastoral, gritty conversational cityscape, modernist leaps, you name it he can do it.
He rarely sounds like anyone else, even though his style is so varied. And he does it with intelligence and imagination.
That's why he's often viewed as Scotland's greatest living poet. You can find some poems by him at www.edwinmorgan.com.
Thanks for the link, Rob.
What a darned fun site! I looked over just about everything that I could click on. Yup. I even clicked open all the treasure boxes. :)!
I did get a glimpse of his versatile style from the offering of poems that were there. I think I ran into "The Loch Ness Monster's Song" once before over at PFFA. Good to see it again. Makes me smile, that one does.
Did you see the MugPoem? That one got another smile out of me.
What stands out about his writing is the ease with which he uses language. It's much like the way a knife eases smoothly through softenend butter. He uses normal everyday words in a powerful way. I don't have to play at mental gymnastics to figure out what he's on about.
Great stuff.
(Oh no! Not again)
*dumps out purse contents in hopes of finding loose bills...checkbook...credit card...something*
Hello half.com. It's me!
Ok. One last thing about Edwin Morgan's writing style. :
I like the way he pulls a poem forward with action words. In the poems that I read, nothing was pooling up or stagnant for long. There was reflection, but not at the expense of motion.
Very nice.
Thanks, bluetattoo.
I'm really enjoying your blogs. So many great images and phrases contained within your poems.
I think "voice" is like a fingerprint--we each have a unique perspective on the world--though that perspective changes, sometimes quickly, sometimes so slowly we don't even realize it. So, i think in any poets work you'll have consistence in voice in a collection--if you see a collection as one world of thought. But that world may change in another collection and the perspective could be different. but the voice, the experiences we carry with us our whole lives, is always present, defining us and our view.
Hi Jenni. Just saw your response.
Yeah. I can agree with that. Humanity is not stagnant and unchanging. Because of time and experience, we are dynamic.
Perhaps, much like a fingerprint, there is a unique signature stamp that is embedded within the sum of a poet's work. Yet, because of time, a poet's work will grow more abundant in experience, causing and challenging them to look at things in different ways, but still with a wax seal that identifies them as being uniquely themself.
Thanks.
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