November 7, 2009 by Stephen Rowe
There’s an interesting article at The Afterword by Philip Marchand where he talks about the standards used to determine which works should be a part of the canon of CanLit. I have to agree with some of the points he mentions here. I took a lot of English courses in university, but only three specifically “Canadian” courses and all were modernist/post-modernist in nature with a couple pre-modern texts thrown in for context. There are a number of CanLit authors that I have to admit I haven’t read. I’m not familiar with Sheila Watson, who is mentioned specifically by Marchand in this article.
But this backs up the man’s point: often it is the academics who promote the canon in choosing what to teach their students. Beyond this the major awards bring to light new works of note for the enthusiastic young CanLit student to devour. But there’s a large gap for many readers, myself included, that can only gradually be filled through years of reading.
Posted in LitNews | Tagged candian literature, Canlit, canon, english courses, philip marchand, sheila watson | Leave a Comment »
November 6, 2009 by Stephen Rowe
So here’s something for you to look at:
- The latest xkcd. I love this kind of humour.
- Edward Byrne has posted Mark Strand’s take on measured and free verse. I love reading articles like this.
- Stephen King has published a poem and you won’t believe where… (or maybe you will, I don’t know, depends on what seedy corner of the interweb you inhabit).
- Some up-to-date news on you’re favourite singer/poet/monk/canadian icon and mine, Leonard Cohen.
Posted in LitNews | Tagged free verse, Leonard Cohen, mark strand, measured verse, Poet, poetry, stephen king, Stephen Rowe, xkcd | Leave a Comment »
November 4, 2009 by Stephen Rowe
Couple items I’ve checked out in the few free moments I’ve had today:
Posted in LitNews | Tagged amazon, book review, chris banks, collection, jacob mooney, news, open book toronto, Stephen Rowe, theme books | Leave a Comment »
November 2, 2009 by Stephen Rowe
I think I’ll start sharing a couple interesting news items from around the web related to poetry and, to a lesser extent, writing in general. Cheers.
- Federico Garcia Lorca was buried in a mass grave in 1936 as merely one result of the Spanish Civil War. Seems the family has agreed to allow excavations of his presumed burial site. Can you say “Zombie Lorca”?
- The IMPAC longlist is now available. Some Canadian talent in here. I draw your attention to Patrick Lane here.
- xkcd is a brilliant web comic that posts a couple times a week on both random and currently significant topics. Here’s one for fans of LOTR, Star Wars, and a couple other big name movies.
Posted in LitNews | Tagged buried, federico garcia lorca, IMPAC, Literary news, longlist, Lorca, Lord of the Rings, Patrick Lane, Spanish Civil War, Star Wars, xkcd, zombie | Leave a Comment »
October 30, 2009 by Stephen Rowe
Image Source: http://nancyimperiale.files. wordpress.com
Earlier this week a co-worker mentioned in passing, having read through parts of my book, that some of my work reminded her of E. E. Cummings. She meant this as a compliment and it’s certainly how I took the statement. It’s true I do enjoy Cummings a fair bit. His presentation and rich imagery is quite appealing to me, but moreso it’s the way Cummings’ verse combines the old and new, the traditional and the avant garde to wonderful effect. These are techniques and concerns that I try to approach in my own writing though, admittedly, I’m less on the fringe than was Cummings.
Of all Cummings’ verse perhaps my favourite poem is a short elegy written in a stroke of genius by the poet:
Buffalo Bill’s
defunct
______who used to
______ride a watersmooth-silver
___________________________stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
_________________________________________Jesus
he was a handsome man
_____________________and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death
Cummings is brilliant in his use of standard or traditional rhythm. Bill’s prowess as a gun-slinger is presented in two five syllable sections in line six counting out shots made at clay pigeons. Though a free verse poem, this line makes use of trochaics to give a staccato effect that at once bangs out the sound of pistols firing while allowing the line to move along quickly. It’s an excellent example of sound and sense coming together to compliment the portrait of the man. The wonderful sliding elegance of the “s” sounds playing off the i and o vowels of lines four and five present an opposition to the gunfire rapidity. Here we can see Bill mounted high on a beautiful horse whose movements are “watersmooth” (as is its appearance), flowing with the ripple of muscle on bone. This blending of traditional metre with free verse sensibilities creates a magic which echoes the showmanship and class that Buffalo Bill would quite likely have wanted to represent in his Wild West shows.
*E. E. Cummings. 100 Selected Poems. New York: Grove Press, 1994.*
Posted in What I'm Reading | Tagged Buffalo Bill, E. E. Cummings, elegy, horse, meter, metre, poem, Poet, poetry, Stephen Rowe, verse | Leave a Comment »
