tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19630688.post1009331090801411191..comments2023-11-12T14:12:54.120+00:00Comments on the rain in my purse: #8: magnifySarahJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02497062670296130228noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19630688.post-50382965753950491672007-06-07T15:32:00.000+00:002007-06-07T15:32:00.000+00:00Thanks - I like the Simic poem a lot, too. I've ad...Thanks - I like the Simic poem a lot, too. I've added another.<BR/>Rob - interesting contrast there. (And what an example - the tulip's streaks.) I lean also to the Stevens' quote, and imagine that in focusing on the detail, we imagine the whole.<BR/>cheersSarahJanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02497062670296130228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19630688.post-80126038187201303172007-06-05T05:51:00.000+00:002007-06-05T05:51:00.000+00:00Big yes to the Simic piece. And I like the Stevens...Big yes to the Simic piece. And I like the Stevens'. Thanks for both.sam of the ten thousand thingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04378206265831223396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19630688.post-69123257546571270022007-06-04T23:17:00.000+00:002007-06-04T23:17:00.000+00:00Yes, terrific poem.I was reading earlier today abo...Yes, terrific poem.<BR/><BR/>I was reading earlier today about Baudelaire, about how he conformed to Samuel Johnson's formulation that "the business of a poet is to examine, not the individual, but the species, to remark general properties and large appearances; he does not number the streaks of the tulip or describe the different shades in the verdure of the forest..."<BR/><BR/>Of course, the modern poet does the opposite. He/she sets out to number the streaks of the tulip, and by examining miniature detail, to say something new about the world.<BR/><BR/>So, yes, I think Stevens speaks for modern poetry. But perhaps writing from universals, as in Baudelaire's allegories, is more counter-cultural and distinctive in today's world. <BR/><BR/>I tend to write with the Simic/Stevens model myself. I am a product of my time. But the quote has made me think about how easily we make laws out of fashionable conventions, which surely exist partly so that they can be broken.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17046788730174617923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19630688.post-13711527291240515312007-06-04T18:42:00.000+00:002007-06-04T18:42:00.000+00:00Great quotation, great poem.Great quotation, great poem.Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.com