Week 7: Language Poetry

Language Poets in the Hoover anthology:

Jackson Mac Low (not himself a Language poet, but very influential to many Language writers--he wrote a critical piece for Ron Silliman's Langpo anthology In the American Tree.)
Larry Eigner (again, not a Lang. poet "proper," but like Mac Low, one of their guiding lights).
Hannah Weiner
Susan Howe
Clark Coolidge
Stephen Rodefer
Robert Grenier
Lyn Hejinian
Tom Mandel
Michael Palmer
Ray DiPalma
Michael Davidson
Bernadette Mayer
Ron Silliman
Bob Perelman
Rae Armantrout
Bruce Andrews
Barrett Watten
Charles Bernstein
Carla Harryman
Diane Ward

Some of these writers are also identifiable with other poetic "schools," such as Black Mountain, New York School, etc. Many of them had fully developed styles and approaches before they became involved with the Language movement. The ones who have gotten the most sympathetic reception and critical attention from the "mainstream" are probably Palmer, Hejinian, and Armantrout, and to some extent Bernstein, Silliman, and Watten. Some of them now hold academic positions at major universities (e.g., Hejinian at UC Berkeley, Bernstein at U Penn), whereas others work in the private sector (Silliman).

Ron Silliman's anthology In the American Tree is an excellent place to start for those who want to explore Language writing further. You can order it through Small Press Distribution (SPD) or Amazon.

The Wikipedia entry on Language poets is a little uneven, but pretty informative for the most part. If you're interested, you might want to check out Language poet Barrett Watten's reflection "On First Looking into Wikipedia's 'Language'" at his home page.

For a very good critical overview of the Language poets' accomplishment and their critical reception, read Eleana Kim on Language Poetry This essay is long, and sometimes a little demanding, but it covers a lot of useful ground.

And if that's not enough for you, there's Kate Lilley's "This L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E" at Jacket--another very useful essay, especially as it bears on issues of literary community.

Also, as some of you already know, some of the original Language poets maintain blogs, two of the most well-known being Ron Silliman and Charles Bernstein (in addition to Barrett Watten's page, which I already mentioned).

Week 6

On the syllabus, the announced theme for Week 6 is "The Sixties," but I think it would be good at this point in the quarter if we lighten up on the reading a little bit and let people get caught up on their chapbook projects, as well as catch up on past reading.

So no firm assignments this time, but if you want to continue reading along the historical trajectory we've been following, here are some poets in the Postmodern collection to look at:

Ted Berrigan
Joseph Ceravolo
Bill Berkson
Clark Coolidge
Ron Padgett
Lorenzo Thomas
Anne Waldman
Alice Notley
Bernadette Mayer
John Godfrey

These are all poets associated in one way or another with what is often called the "Second-Generation New York School." Another key figure in this loosely-construed group is Joe Brainard, whom most of you remember from I Remember.

Readings for Week 5

The following poets in Paul Hoover's Postmodern anthology were among those featured in Donald Allen's 1960 anthology The New American Poetry 1945-1960:

BLACK MOUNTAIN

Paul Blackburn
Robert Creeley
Ed Dorn
Robert Duncan
Larry Eigner
Denise Levertov
Charles Olson

BEAT/SF RENAISSANCE

Gregory Corso
Allen Ginsberg
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Jack Kerouac
Jack Spicer

NEW YORK SCHOOL

John Ashbery
Barbara Guest
Frank O'Hara
Kenneth Koch
James Schuyler

MISC.

Amiri Baraka (Le Roi Jones)
Michael McClure
Gary Snyder
Philip Whalen
John Wieners

The headings above correspond roughly to the groupings in Allen's anthology, though in some cases they are a little arbitrary. It's not clear, for example, why McClure is not grouped with the Beats, and in some ways, Duncan belongs in the SF Renaissance group.

Obviously you can't read all the selections from these poets thoroughly in a week's time, but try to skim through them at least, and pay special attention to the following pieces:

Charles Olson: "The Librarian," "Projective Verse" [in the Poetics section]
Robert Creeley: "The Rain," "The Language," "The Window," "To Define" [Poetics]
Allen Ginsberg: "A Supermarket in California," "America"
Jack Kerouac: selections from Mexico City Blues
Jack Spicer: from Imaginary Elegies
John Ashbery: "'How Much Longer Will I Be Able to Inhabit the Divine Sepulcher...,'" "Leaving the Atocha Station"
Frank O'Hara: "Meditations in an Emergency," "The Day Lady Died," "Personal Poem," "Steps," "Poem ('Lana Turner Has Collapsed')," "Why I Am Not a Painter," "Personism: A Manifesto" [Poetics]

YOUTUBE LINKS

Charles Olson reading "The Librarian"
Allen Ginsberg reading "America" (audio only)
Frank O'Hara reading "Having a Coke with You"

PENNSOUND LINKS

Charles Olson
Robert Creeley
Allen Ginsberg
Jack Spicer (maybe start with his reading of Language in Vancouver 1965
John Ashbery
(try "The Suspended Life" from The Tennis Court Oath)

Modernist Publications

At Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities (the blog for Yale's Beinecke Library), some images of modernist little magazines (check out the interior pages of Blast to compare them to the reformatted versions in the Norton).

Readings & Links for Week 4

In the Norton Modern volume, please read:

Louis Zukofsky
George Oppen
Lorine Niedecker
Charles Reznikoff
Basil Bunting (esp. "On the Fly-Leaf of Pound's Cantos")

Make sure, as always, to read the author intros.

Please also read Zukofsky's "An Objective" and "A Statement for Poetry" on Google Books.

other links:

Louis Zukofsky on PennSound

George Oppen on PennSound

Charles Reznikoff on PennSound

Links for Week 3

Ezra Pound at PennSound


William Carlos Williams at PennSound

Links for Week 2

The 1913 Armory Show.

The Wikipedia page on Futurism.

Some Futurist manifestos.

The Wikipedia page on Dada.

The International Dada Archive.

Gertrude Stein Online.

UbuWeb Sound: Gertrude Stein.