Eratosphere Forums - Metrical Poetry, Free Verse, Fiction, Art, Critique, Discussions Able Muse - a review of poetry, prose and art

Forum Left Top

Notices

Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Unread 07-05-2022, 10:35 AM
David Callin David Callin is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Ellan Vannin
Posts: 3,331
Default Edward Thomas (and Robert Frost)

This is very good ... https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...-thomas-review
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Unread 07-05-2022, 10:57 AM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: TX
Posts: 6,630
Default

Thanks, David - that is a good review, and I'd not known about Frost's role in the story. I like the Thomas review of Yeats, "moving about in a world where perfect dreams are as cheap as evening papers." That is incisive.

I have to say I find Ted Hughes tedious and bombastic. He is constantly cited in the UK poetry world - as at the end here - and is to my mind underserving of such attention.

Cheers,
John
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Unread 07-05-2022, 11:36 AM
David Callin David Callin is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Ellan Vannin
Posts: 3,331
Default

John, just in case I misled you, the "This is very good" referred to the book itself, which I am currently reading. (You probably got that.)

And let me see if I can change your opinion on Hughes, when he is very good (as he often was, especially earlier on) ... https://genius.com/Ted-hughes-the-bull-moses-annotated

(There's a typo in the transcription, I think.)

Cheers

David
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Unread 07-05-2022, 11:47 AM
Duncan Gillies MacLaurin's Avatar
Duncan Gillies MacLaurin Duncan Gillies MacLaurin is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saeby, Denmark
Posts: 3,227
Default

There have been a couple of threads about this before. Here's the last one, with a link to the first one in it.

Duncan
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Unread 07-05-2022, 04:03 PM
Rob Wright Rob Wright is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Philadelphia PA, U.S.A.
Posts: 910
Default

I love Thomas' poetry. A reading of Adlestrop by Richard Burton (yes that Richard Burton) that I heard convinced me to start writing poetry after a long hiatus. It's one I have in my head – great to pull it now and then. That said, I found this book hard rowing. It was very one-note – Thomas as martyr. I too did not know of the Frost/Thomas influence, but it made perfect sense. As to Hughes, though he is celebrated as an observer of animals, to me they are always "Other" in his poems, unlike say the poet's encounter with the Fish in Bishop's poem, or even the skunks at the end of Skunk Hour, by (God help us) Robert Lowell. Only in that prose poem of rescuing the lambing ewe taken straight from his journals, do I see Hughes and the animal joined in any way that is profound.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Unread 07-05-2022, 04:34 PM
W T Clark W T Clark is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2020
Location: England
Posts: 1,323
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Isbell View Post
I have to say I find Ted Hughes tedious and bombastic. He is constantly cited in the UK poetry world - as at the end here - and is to my mind underserving of such attention.

Cheers,
John
Have you read Crow, that is a wonderful book, it clawed me into love with it.
Funnily enough, I have a vaguely similar reaction to Thomas and Frost. I would rather have Hughes's othering energy of language and beasts over Thomas or Frost's blandnesses.
There is an lrb article about their relationship that you might like, David.

Last edited by W T Clark; 07-05-2022 at 04:41 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Unread 07-05-2022, 04:45 PM
Sarah-Jane Crowson's Avatar
Sarah-Jane Crowson Sarah-Jane Crowson is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 1,687
Default

Quote:
Have you read Crow, that is a wonderful book, it clawed me into love with it.
I have a colleague who has A2 facsimiles of Baskin's illustrations to Crow - an early edition, I think, or a limited print-run - I'd have to ask them -

either way, they are extraordinary. One of the reasons I love broadsides. I wonder if Hughes was hate-able, and if hate-able is the opposite to urbane.

The Dymock poets are what they are, but personally I like it best when they overspill into different worlds, or where they are allowed critically to stray.

I love Robert Graves, though - their elan, their stupid-loveliness.

And then there's Ivor Gurney, whose work I always feel that I should like, but I still can't make myself like it.

Sarah-Jane
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Unread 07-05-2022, 05:49 PM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: TX
Posts: 6,630
Default

I don’t hate Hughes, I just find his poetry bores and sometimes vaguely nauseates me - an interesting combination. But he is most certainly hated by a good number of Sylvia Plath fans.
I’ll take a look at Crow. That may be the book I disliked enough not to open Hughes again for decades. “perfect / pike in all parts” I thought was very nice, but “terrifying are the thrushes on the lawn” I thought remarkable bombast - or as Horace puts it, ridiculus mus.

Cheers,
John
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Unread 07-06-2022, 01:05 PM
Roger Slater Roger Slater is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: New York
Posts: 16,470
Default

I think Hughes' "translation" of Ovid is sensational. It's often dissed among our crowd because it's done in free verse and apparently isn't the most "accurate" of the bunch, but I found it beautiful and enthralling nonetheless.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Unread 07-06-2022, 03:06 PM
Matt Q Matt Q is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: England, UK
Posts: 4,983
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by W T Clark View Post
Have you read Crow, that is a wonderful book, it clawed me into love with it.
I'm with you on Crow, Cameron. Also -- something I only recently found out -- did you know he wrote Crow heavily under the influence of Vasko Popa? And if you don't know Popa, do check him out. I imagine you'd love him. I think he's excellent. I have the Selected Poems translated by Charles Simic, it's very reasonably priced, too.

Matt
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



Forum Right Top
Forum Left Bottom Forum Right Bottom
 
Right Left
Member Login
Forgot password?
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Statistics:
Forum Members: 8,395
Total Threads: 21,824
Total Posts: 270,665
There are 2632 users
currently browsing forums.
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Sponsor:
Donate & Support Able Muse / Eratosphere
Forum LeftForum Right
Right Right
Right Bottom Left Right Bottom Right

Hosted by ApplauZ Online