ENGLISH POETRY POLITICS....
(got this via email from keston sutherland; was in the times)
February 22, 2004
Oxbridge split by the baffling bard
Maurice Chittenden
LATE at night a man sits writing verse in a deserted Cambridge college
library before heading home with his latest work in the basket of his
bicycle. Could this really be Britain's greatest living poet? The belated
"discovery" of J H Prynne, a bard who usually sells his work in pamphlets
with print runs of no more than 500, has split the worlds of academia and
poetry.
A new volume of the Oxford English Literary History, intended as a
definitive account of our written heritage, dismisses the "lingering
languor" of Philip Larkin and the movement poets of the 1950s.
In contrast Prynne, a 67-year-old don and chief librarian at Gonville &
Caius college, is hailed as an important influence on modern poets, more
than 40 years after he first dipped into what he calls "the great aquarium
of the language" to deliver his first verse.
The problem for many who read Prynne is that the words seem to swim over
the page with no decipherable meaning. His abstract work contrasts with the
more straightforward style of poets such as Larkin.
However, Randall Stevenson, reader in English literature at Edinburgh
University and author of the new Oxford volume, 1960-2000: The Last of
England?, writes that Prynne's "full significance for the period's poetry
began to be realised only at the end of the century".
Prynne, an engineer's son originally from Kent, is rewarded with a full
bibliography of his works at the end of the book while writers including
Andrew Motion, the poet laureate, and Muriel Spark, the novelist, are
ignored.
The claims for Prynne's greatness have divided dons. Some have likened the
row to the "ancients versus moderns" dispute aroused by the emergence of
Jonathan Swift's satirical works in the 18th century. Others speak of a
resurrection of the "curse of Ohel", the acronym for Oxford History of
English Literature.
James Fenton, the former professor of poetry at Oxford, once asked in a
poem: "Jeremy Prynne, Jeremy Prynne, isn't your oeuvre rather thynne? Don't
hit me with your rolling pynne."
But Stevenson, who says that the late Ted Hughes is the pre-eminent poet of
the late 20th century, said last week: "Prynne is an important influence on
English literature. I think speaking well of him is a scar to wear with
pride."
John Carey, former Merton professor of English literature at Oxford, who
gives the volume a scathing review in the Sunday Times books section this
week, accuses Stevenson of favouring the extreme violence and cruelty of
radical socialist playwrights of the 1960s and early 1970s. He said: "The
notion that Prynne is elevated in this way is bizarre. Such a dismal
assessment of Larkin is really unfair."
John Sutherland, professor of modern English literature at University
College London, recalled that the author Peter Ackroyd had once sent the
late Stephen Spender a pamphlet of Prynne's verse, saying: "It can be
called a gift, but hardly a present."
Sutherland added: "Prynne is incomprehensible, but he does have his
admirers who say he is interesting and on the edge."
Some poets are similarly baffled. Motion said: "Prynne divides the
poetry-reading community into a large number of people who find him
impenetrable and/or dull, and a much smaller number who think he's the
bee's knees. I've read him and been impressed by his integrity and
erudition -- but he's not someone I return to."
U A Fanthorpe, the poet who is criticised in The Last of England? for
failing to be innovative, said: "I have heard Prynne read and found him
hard to follow. I don't think being innovative is the big thing."
Roger McGough, the former member of the 1960s band Scaffold, who is praised
in the new volume for challenging convention, said: "I find Larkin very
accessible. Whether you go along with the doom and gloom, the message is
clear. Prynne I do find difficult."
Cambridge academics are similarly divided. Sir Frank Kermode, a former King
Edward VII professor, said: "He is a very friendly colleague but I have not
been able to make a great deal of his work. I don't understand why there
has to be a confrontation between him and Larkin. Why can't people like
them both?" Rod Mengham of Jesus College, a poet who has published some of
Prynne's pamphlets, said: "Many of us here are fans of his work."
Prynne usually shuns interviews and refuses to be photographed for the
sleeves of his books. This weekend he was bemused by all the excitement.
Interrupting a discussion with students at Gonville & Caius, he said: "It
doesn't surprise me in the least that some people do not understand my
poetry. Certainly it has not made me a rich man."
(got this via email from keston sutherland; was in the times)
February 22, 2004
Oxbridge split by the baffling bard
Maurice Chittenden
LATE at night a man sits writing verse in a deserted Cambridge college
library before heading home with his latest work in the basket of his
bicycle. Could this really be Britain's greatest living poet? The belated
"discovery" of J H Prynne, a bard who usually sells his work in pamphlets
with print runs of no more than 500, has split the worlds of academia and
poetry.
A new volume of the Oxford English Literary History, intended as a
definitive account of our written heritage, dismisses the "lingering
languor" of Philip Larkin and the movement poets of the 1950s.
In contrast Prynne, a 67-year-old don and chief librarian at Gonville &
Caius college, is hailed as an important influence on modern poets, more
than 40 years after he first dipped into what he calls "the great aquarium
of the language" to deliver his first verse.
The problem for many who read Prynne is that the words seem to swim over
the page with no decipherable meaning. His abstract work contrasts with the
more straightforward style of poets such as Larkin.
However, Randall Stevenson, reader in English literature at Edinburgh
University and author of the new Oxford volume, 1960-2000: The Last of
England?, writes that Prynne's "full significance for the period's poetry
began to be realised only at the end of the century".
Prynne, an engineer's son originally from Kent, is rewarded with a full
bibliography of his works at the end of the book while writers including
Andrew Motion, the poet laureate, and Muriel Spark, the novelist, are
ignored.
The claims for Prynne's greatness have divided dons. Some have likened the
row to the "ancients versus moderns" dispute aroused by the emergence of
Jonathan Swift's satirical works in the 18th century. Others speak of a
resurrection of the "curse of Ohel", the acronym for Oxford History of
English Literature.
James Fenton, the former professor of poetry at Oxford, once asked in a
poem: "Jeremy Prynne, Jeremy Prynne, isn't your oeuvre rather thynne? Don't
hit me with your rolling pynne."
But Stevenson, who says that the late Ted Hughes is the pre-eminent poet of
the late 20th century, said last week: "Prynne is an important influence on
English literature. I think speaking well of him is a scar to wear with
pride."
John Carey, former Merton professor of English literature at Oxford, who
gives the volume a scathing review in the Sunday Times books section this
week, accuses Stevenson of favouring the extreme violence and cruelty of
radical socialist playwrights of the 1960s and early 1970s. He said: "The
notion that Prynne is elevated in this way is bizarre. Such a dismal
assessment of Larkin is really unfair."
John Sutherland, professor of modern English literature at University
College London, recalled that the author Peter Ackroyd had once sent the
late Stephen Spender a pamphlet of Prynne's verse, saying: "It can be
called a gift, but hardly a present."
Sutherland added: "Prynne is incomprehensible, but he does have his
admirers who say he is interesting and on the edge."
Some poets are similarly baffled. Motion said: "Prynne divides the
poetry-reading community into a large number of people who find him
impenetrable and/or dull, and a much smaller number who think he's the
bee's knees. I've read him and been impressed by his integrity and
erudition -- but he's not someone I return to."
U A Fanthorpe, the poet who is criticised in The Last of England? for
failing to be innovative, said: "I have heard Prynne read and found him
hard to follow. I don't think being innovative is the big thing."
Roger McGough, the former member of the 1960s band Scaffold, who is praised
in the new volume for challenging convention, said: "I find Larkin very
accessible. Whether you go along with the doom and gloom, the message is
clear. Prynne I do find difficult."
Cambridge academics are similarly divided. Sir Frank Kermode, a former King
Edward VII professor, said: "He is a very friendly colleague but I have not
been able to make a great deal of his work. I don't understand why there
has to be a confrontation between him and Larkin. Why can't people like
them both?" Rod Mengham of Jesus College, a poet who has published some of
Prynne's pamphlets, said: "Many of us here are fans of his work."
Prynne usually shuns interviews and refuses to be photographed for the
sleeves of his books. This weekend he was bemused by all the excitement.
Interrupting a discussion with students at Gonville & Caius, he said: "It
doesn't surprise me in the least that some people do not understand my
poetry. Certainly it has not made me a rich man."
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