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The Myth of Craft: Thoughts on the Writing of Poetry
- Ohio University Press
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41 The Myth of Craft Thoughts on theWriting of Poetry B I L L Y C O L L I N S FLA UBERT, O R SO M EO NE L IKE T HAT (you can tell this is going to be a scholarly presentation),said that the adjective is the enemy of the noun.The writer falsely believes that the noun by itself, standing alone, will not suffice.The poor noun has been standing naked all these years—centuries,really— waiting for the writer to come along and put the right clothes on it. But, in fact, the noun is just fine without the writer, just as the world itself is fine without the writer. The noun is actually closer to the thing it stands for than the writer will ever be because all the noun ever does is represent the thing.It’s its only job.The word “apple” is tighter with the apple on the table than the writer will ever be no matter how hard he stares at it wondering how this piece of fruit can improve his position in literary society. Emerson calls the self-sufficiency of objects “the speaking language of things,” which implies that things—especially things found in Nature—are talking already without our help, our misconstrued desire to assist them in articulating themselves.They are not mute according to Emerson. It was Emerson who also said that we should act as if other people really existed because who 42 ◆ B I L L Y C O L L I N S knows? They just might. Which gives me even more reason to trust in Emerson’s existence and his assertion that the things of the world enjoy a refreshing independence from us,and that includes people with agendas that involve self-expression. The toadstool does not need your adjective.The goldfish was fine before you showed up with your thesaurus and your envelopes, hopefully stamped and self-addressed.The streetlight wants to be left alone. So do the leaf and the blanket even if we find it nearly irresistible to make the leaf green and the blanket—I don’t know—blue? And as if one smothering modifier is not enough, double and triple adjectives may be deployed to finish the job. They gang up on the poor noun,drag it into an alley and beat the life out of it.The bullying modifier.Too strong a metaphor? Ok,then just some snails attached to the hull, slowing down the boat. No contemporary writer likes to think he or she is part of a writing fad. Surely, the point of literature has been to arrive at this point in literary history and remain there. After all, so much is at stake for the writer,for committing acts of literature involves conveying a Zeitgeist, expressing one’s Weltschmerz, and unleashing the inner flood of consciousness itself. But the fact is that verbal fashions do change, and at one time the generous release of modifiers into writing was an indispensable part of a literary performance.We need look no further than this sample, a sonnet from a poet, one of whose poems graces the base of the Statue of Liberty: Long Island Sound (EMMA LAZARUS) I see it as it looked one afternoon In August,—by a fresh, soft breeze o’erblown. The swiftness of the tide, the light thereon, A far-off sail, white as a crescent moon. The shining waters with pale currents strewn, The quiet fishing smacks, the Eastern cove, The semi-circle of its dark, green grove. The luminous grasses, and the merry sun In the grave sky; the sparkle far and wide, Laughter of unseen children, cheerful chirp Of crickets, and low lisp of rippling tide, [54.160.243.44] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 15:55 GMT) The Myth of Craft ◆ 43 Light summer clouds fantastical as sleep Changing unnoted while I gazed thereon. All these fair sounds and sights I made my own. You have heard of the man who mistook his wife for a hat? This poet has mistaken a body of water for a Christmas tree. If you took all the nouns from the poem—breeze, tide, sail, moon, waters, currents, cove, sun, sky, children, crickets, cloud (which is kind of an impressionistic poem in itself )—and lined them up on one side of the page, then took all the modifiers—fresh, soft, far-off, shining, pale, quiet, luminous, merry, cheerful (which is a...