Sparring
with the Sun
By
Jan Schreiber
A
Review
Jan
Schreiber is a new name for me, though he has been publishing poetry and
criticism for some time. I came across
this volume of poetry criticism and decided to give it a read. I found it to be highly engaging and
insightful.
It
is a collection of essays, some of which have appeared previously in
publications like Contemporary Poetry
Review. The book covers quite a lot
of ground offering valuable insights along the way.
Sparring is divided into
three sections: Part 1 is ‘Six Poets of the Late Twentieth Century’. Part 2 is ‘The Aspirants’. And Part 3 is ‘The Sorting-Out Process’.
In
Part 1 Schreiber discusses six late modern poets all of whom chose to
incorporate into their poetry, to various degrees, formal aspects from the
poetic tradition. The poets discussed
include Elizabeth Bishop, Anthony Hecht, Richard Wilbur, Robert Lowell, Howard
Nemerov, and W. D. Snodgrass. While each
of the analyses is helpful, the overall impression given in Part 1 is that formal
elements from the English language tradition continued to exert a pull on poets
even when modernism in the form of a doctrinaire, free verse, approach was at its
strongest. And the overall results are
uniformly efficacious. If you want an
introduction to how some poets in late modernism remained rooted in the
traditional elements of English verse, Part 1 is the best I have read.
Part
2 is sub-divided into two parts. The
first part of Part 2 is called ‘Lost and Found’. Here Schreiber discusses a few poets who have
been neglected and that Schreiber feels are worth taking a second look at. I learned, for example, about the poet Samuel
Menashe, who I had not heard of before.
Menashe is a kind of minimalist, and I normally dislike how minimalism
has effected poetry, particularly Haiku and Tanka. But I was intrigued by the few poems
Schreiber quoted and went to Amazon and ordered Menashe’s collection from The
Poetry Foundation ‘Neglected Masters’ series.
What a treat! Really wonderful
poems; sharp, articulate, resonant, well-crafted.
So
Part 2 of Schreiber’s work has already panned out for me, introducing me to a
poet previously unknown to me that I am finding rewarding to read. Perhaps you will find some new poet in this
section as well.
The
second section of Part 2 is ‘Modernism’s Last Gasp?’ It is an exploration of the direction that
modernism, by which Schreiber means free verse, and, I think, the more
avant-garde wing of free verse, is headed.
Schreiber analyzes five recent modern verse publications. These five were approved of by no less a
source than the New Yorker. Schreiber’s
analyses are balanced; he finds both things to admire and things to
critique. But the overall tone of
Schreiber’s reviews is that modernism has become tedious and sloppy. There is, in addition, a tendency to
solipsism, to opaque imagery that no amount of focus will allow for the
unpacking of its meaning. It’s not that
the poems are difficult. Schreiber
notes, “There is nothing wrong with having to work at elucidating a poem, as
long as the reward justifies the effort.
We learned much as a culture from the effort to understand the poems of
Dickinson in the nineteenth century or Stevens in the twentieth, but it is
disappointing to apply oneself diligently to a text only to come up with chaff.” (Page 134)
Schreiber’s
overall view of late modernism is one that resonates with me. I have been particularly struck by the
increase in what I refer to as slovenly lineation. I am sensitive to this because, with my focus
on syllabics, it is my view that a syllabic poem requires clear lineation if it
is to communicate its form to the hearer of the poem. Late modernism runs counter to this kind of
discipline; radical enjambment is common and the complete disjunction of
grammatical phrasing and line break is pervasive. Schreiber does not raise this specific point
about lineation; but his observations about a growing laxness fit well with my
personal take on late modernism.
Schreiber
points out that form gives the poet a tool of focus, “The epigram, the
quatrain, the sonnet have the virtue of forcing writers to be inventive in
cooking the fat out of their lines.” (Page 135) One of the attractions of writing poems within
formal parameters is that the form functions as a kind of lens; the poet is not
relying solely on personal whim. The
form functions as a means to winnow the vast stream of images and associations
that run through the mind, a means that lies beyond personal taste.
But
is Schreiber right that we are witnessing the ‘late days of modernism’? His view is that some late modern poems have
become ‘. . . quaint, old-fashioned, and surprisingly uninspiring, except for a
few loners that stand out like mica in dust …’ (Page 143). Here he's talking about a specific poet, but I believe the remark can be generalized. I sympathize with Schreiber’s view that the
avant-garde experimentalism feels like it has run its course. In looking at experiments from the 70’s and 80’s
they seem, now, amazingly dated; like some fashion accessory or an 8-track. And late modern poets who continue in this
vein look, well, kind of sad.
But
it is difficult to see how this will pan-out.
I am not so sure this is the ‘last days’, or even the ‘late days’, of
modernism. What I see developing, in
contrast, is a both/and approach. I am
thinking here of poets like Dana Gioia who composes excellent poetry in both
formal, metrical, and in free verse. My
good friend, Sandy Eastoak, is another poet who is equally efficacious with
free verse and formal verse. This is a
trend which I see very gradually emerging.
From
this perspective we are not witnessing the last days of modernism so much as
the absorption of modernism into the overall layout of English language
poetry. For a century free verse and
formal verse have been seen as in opposition.
And free verse poets thought of themselves in that way; that is to say
free verse poets thought of themselves as overthrowing the strictures of an
outdated heritage. And traditional poets
obliged this perspective, only reversing the value judgments.
But
with the emergence of poets like Gioia and Eastoak, and others who write with
equal facility in the two modes, this kind of ideologically based opposition is
beginning, I think, to be perceived as contrived. If my observation is correct, than what I suspect
will happen in the near future is that poets will see both formal and free
approaches as options rather than as oppositions, with more and more poets
writing now and then in one or the other of the modes. In a way it is like what is happening in the
world of cooking where chefs have become skilled in more than one approach to
cuisine; say Japanese and French. Such a
chef may cook one way and then the other, or may even mix the two cuisines in a
single meal. Similarly, a poet like
Gioia will present both free verse and metrical verse in a single volume of his
poetry without feeling that they should be separated or that they clash.
Part
3 of Sparring deals with the ins and outs
of poetic criticism. There is a lengthy
discussion of Yvor Winters and his influence on 20th century
American poetry. I was unaware, for
example, of how many of his students had gone on to significant positions or how
widely Wineters’s views have been dispersed.
Schreiber’s presentation is sympathetic, knowledgeable, and at the same
time revelatory of some shortcomings.
Altogether a highly informative chapter.
In
the penultimate chapter Schreiber discusses ‘The Functions of Poetry’. I think it is the most open ended of the
chapters. It deals with the pervasive
sense among poets of the loss of their place and their audience in the late
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
In an insightful analysis Schreiber points out that, from a certain
perspective, poetry has not lost its audience, “If poetry serves and fulfills
all these functions – social, psychological, and spiritual – then why is it so
widely ignored and even disdained? One
might answer that it isn’t. In various
forms – popular song including folk and rap, limericks and other light verse,
rallying cries of street demonstrations, naïve compositions for birthdays and
other special occasions – rhythmic language thrives.” (Page 189)
Precisely. It isn’t that modern poetry has lost its
audience; it’s that the audience for poetry has, for the most part, abandoned
most free verse presentations. Popular
song is
the audience for modern poetry; it is where modern poetry can be found.
Regarding
avant-garde poetry, Schreiber notes, “Yet very few people read the latter sort
of poetry. Why? For one thing, ‘art’ or ‘high’ poetry is
still recovering from a serious deformation foisted upon it early in the
twentieth century, when it was deprived of the very qualities – rhythm and
rhyme – that made it adhere to memory, and at the same time required by the
aesthetics of the age to be incomprehensible to all but a small coterie.” (Page
189)
If
this seems harsh, consider how a poem like Frost’s ‘Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening’ has become a cultural artifact.
I can’t think of any modern free verse poem that has become so
well-known and so well loved. Or
consider how the Villanelle by Dylan Thomas, ‘Do Not Go Gentle’ has become one
of the most widely quoted, read, and understood of modern poems. Both of these poems are formal, highly
structured.
Yet,
once again, I find myself wanting to step back from this kind of
conclusion. For one thing, I can think
of free verse poetry that is widely appreciated, though it is not modern. I am thinking of the King James Bible’s
version of the Psalms. There was
recently a Science Fiction Series, part of the Stargate franchise, called ‘Stargate
Universe’. In an early episode one of
the main characters, facing a crisis on the spaceship, goes to his room, closes the door, sits
on his bed, and begins to recite from memory, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want . . .’ What I found attractive
is that it felt completely believable.
Normally
we do not think of the Psalms as free verse poetry. That’s because we have, unfortunately,
absorbed the narrative that fee verse represents a break with tradition, that
fee verse is iconoclastic in its stance towards the traditional heritage of
English Language prosody. But if we
connect free verse with the Psalms, that narrative starts to feel like bad
story telling. Instead of free verse
being a break with the past, free verse can be seen as something that was
always present in English poetic culture.
The difference during the modern period was that it emerged into the
foreground and, in addition, at times became deliberately obscure and
enormously self-involved. So, in the
end, I am not able to completely agree with Schreiber’s views. Even so, the thoughtful presentation and the
knowledgeable analyses are rewarding to read.
Schreiber’s style is lucid and pleasing to the ear. It is also avoids being strident, a great
virtue in a field, poetic criticism, where stridency is often encountered.
From
the perspective of syllabics, Schreiber does not comment on its usage except
noting in passing that J. V. Cunningham adopted syllabics during one part of
his career. It is understandable that
Schreiber does not deal with the emergence of syllabics such as Haiku and
Cinquain; such an approach is still marginal and has not exerted a big
impact. In comparison to metrical and
free verse, syllabics remain a fringe concern.
For
the syllabic poet, however, I think that Schreiber’s analyses and overview
offer useful material. For example,
Schreiber is able to articulate why so much of late modern free verse is
incomprehensible. For the poet coming to
syllabics from free verse, this kind of information can help by assisting those
newly interested in syllabics to understand why a free verse approach to
lineation needs to be abandoned in composing articulate syllabic verse.
My
favorite section of Sparring was Part
2 because it led to some new discoveries.
But all three sections have depth and are worthy of study and
engagement. Take a look at it; I think
you will enjoy Schreiber’s take on where poetry stands as a new century
continues to unfold.
Sparring
with the Sun:
Poets
and the Ways We Think about Poetry in the Late Days of Modernism
Jan
Schreiber
ISBN:
9781938308062
$17.95
Available
at Amazon or
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