Wrote 19-year-old Robert Lowell to 51-year-old Ezra Pound in 1936, according to
this New Yorker review of a book about Lowell. Lowell was trying to ingratiate himself to Pound, trying to convince the old poet to let him "come to Italy and work under you and forge my way into reality." What on earth would you say to try to seem like a poet worthy of an internship with another poet? Lowell also said:
I had violent passions for various pursuits usually taking the form of collecting: tools; names of birds; marbles; catching butterflies, snakes, turtles etc; buying books on Napoleon... I caught over thirty turtles and put them in a well where they died of insufficient feeding....
I was looking for that passage — having heard it yesterday on the audio version of The New Yorker — and I happened to run into this other article which has some similar material:
"The Sage of Yale Law School." The "sage" is Anthony Kronman, who's got a new book, "an eleven-hundred-page exploration of his personal theology, called
'Confessions of a Born-Again Pagan'":
Kronman’s book... explains the Greek view of life, as it was expressed by Aristotle; then he describes the Judeo-Christian view, as espoused by Augustine and Aquinas; finally, he explores atheism. In each case, he shows why the best possible version of each world view is unsatisfying. He concludes that “born-again paganism”—a theology of his own invention, holding that God and the world are the same—is the only truly convincing way to understand our place in the universe....
Kronman sees born-again paganism as inherently democratic. It “divinizes the distinctiveness of every individual,” he writes.... His ideas about divinity seem, at times, more poetic than religious; toward the end of the book, he devotes many pages to Walt Whitman and Wallace Stevens....
Poets... but what about Robert Lowell and Ezra Pound? Neither are mentioned in "Confessions," and though I haven't scanned the 1100 pages — I've only used the "search inside this book" function at Amazon — I take it that Kronman's "paganism" has nothing to do with the whoring of Zeus and the savagery of the heroes. He also doesn't mention Episcopalians and their — as Lowell would have it — "insipid blackness."
Posts
21 comments:
Episcopalians are unsound by nature.
"I am going to bash everyone and everything around me that makes my life possible."
Said every Young Poet.
For a second there I thought Meade had a new dog!. How can the Episcopalians compete with pups?
"He also doesn't mention Episcopalians and their — as Lowell would have it — "insipid blackness." Typical Marcuseian tolerence by our sweet little Ann.
He concludes that “born-again paganism”—a theology of his own invention, holding that God and the world are the same—is the only truly convincing way to understand our place in the universe....
It seems he has not fully appreciated Spinoza. That God = the World formula seems to me incorrect as far as Classical religion is concerned. It was more God = the State. Every polis had its patron deity and its foundation mythos. To fail to observe the rites of the state cult was a sign of disloyalty if not downright treasonous.
"Zeus and the daily walk were almost a religion to him: how could the whoring and savagery of the comments section compete with the faithful blackness of the neighbor's dog?" - from the New Yorker review of a book about Meade.
I'm not sure why anyone would really want the Greek paganism. The Zeus whoring was great... for Zeus. Quite a few of the sexual partners did not get a choice in the matter, and regardless of the voluntary nature of the act if Hera found out the results tended to be very unpleasant. The Greek afterlife for most people was awful, originally a choice between terrible and much worse, then eventually adding a sort of heaven that most likely you would never qualify. As for the heroes their great deeds tended to come to bad ends including but not limited to Heracles, Theseus, Jason, Bellerophon, and most of the heroes involved in the Trojan War. It makes an interesting setting for, say, a role playing game, but you don't really want to live there.
really pointless.
I've never read any of Lowell's poetry. He seems to have been incredibly talented - but a bit of a looney. If he hadn't been a C/O during WW2, he probably would've been kicked out of the service for being too crazy - like Kerouac.
Pound had a touch of madness too, although it seems to have been more due to his crazy political obsessions. He was one of those people who took a good idea and then develop a monomania. Like someone thinking Trump will be a bad POTUS and end up trying to convince everyone he's Hitler.
I've never been able to get through much of Pound's poetry but then I'm not into long poems. Someone needs to put out an "Audiobook" on these epic poems, because they're too hard to read - for me.
I'm glad Althouse blogs on this kind of thing. It classes up the joint.
Melville and Hardy both gave up novel writing to do "epic" poems. Nobody reads them.
I thought Meade covered this with his reference to pantheism. 1100 pages and he could have just read Spinoza.
Episcopalians recite the Creed, so they is Christians.
And since Messiah means King, they easily accept a King of the Jews who approves of the King/Queen of England. Their King's suggested Prayer tells them the serfs have to ask forgiveness for Trespassing. It all works well...until their King encounters a Scots Presbyterian.
"Kronman sees born-again paganism as inherently democratic. It “divinizes the distinctiveness of every individual,” he writes.... His ideas about divinity seem, at times, more poetic than religious."
Meh. I'll take Feuerbach over Kronman. Before I read the other 1099 pages, anyway.
Last week The New Yorker had a lengthy article about Elizabeth Bishop. What's up with all these articles about disturbed poets and their sad lives? The article on Lowell mentions the high incidence of bipolar disorders among creative people, especially writers......Nowadays they self medicate by campaigning for Hillary, but in previous generations this form of therapy was unknown.
Just splitting hairs here I know, but it's not "the Episcopalian Church" ... it's the Episcopal Church. The members are the Episcopalians.
In each case, he shows why the best possible version of each world view is unsatisfying
Of course, it is a near certainty that one who creates his own religion, that is, one who presumes to be a god, would have an erroneous idea of what of those other world views and does not really understand what it is that he rejects.
Its sorta sad. I'm old enough to remember that if "The New Yorker" had written an article about someone at Yale writing a super smart book about X, I'd probably would've thought, "Boy, I gotta read that".
Today, I don't know. Today's cultural elite is so cut off from the average American, and frankly, so stupid and mediocre - why should I bother?
I mean its one thing to care about S.J. Pearlman, E.B. white, Elizabeth Drew, or John McPhee, but now I'm supposed to care about some guy called "Gopnick" or some other 21st Century clown who writes some generic Liberal BS about the same old topics?
Look at the New york times, Look at the Wapo. How can anyone take the idea that we have an journalist or cultural "elite" seriously anymore?
Lowell far surpassed Pound when it came to poetic talent and output. One of the greats of the 20th century.
I'm a fan of George Herriman, myself.
Rcocean,
I read Meliville’s Clarel twice - (once for class and once to make sure I was right the first time around: once is enough for anyone and never works even better for most people. But I think he can be excused for this misstep: pour your life into a White Whale only to see it wash up on the American shores after it’s been harpooned beyond recognition by publishers and critics alike... Yeah, you might go crazy too.
As for Hardy, I’m not familiar with a long poem he’d written - (The Dynamists?) of course his oeuvre clocks in at something round about 1,000 pages in paperback. I read those too - and loved a handful, liked a bigger handful and could take or leave the rest.
JOB
Post a Comment