[lit-ideas] Re: the heart gives up its dead
- From: cblists@xxxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 17:53:24 +0100
> On 27 Oct 2014, at 16:37, David Ritchie wrote:
>
>> On Oct 27, 2014, at 4:26 AM, Chris Bruce wrote: Today is the 100th
>> anniversary of Dylan Thomas's birth. (He didn't live to see even 50 of them).
>
> I recall the beating he got on Phil/Lit. The verdict was, I believe, that he
> didn't measure up. I can't remember anyone else being similarly damned, but
> this may be because I have a soft spot for the sound of his voice and
> consequently disagreed.
I don't remember this at all - perhaps I was away. I'll belatedly weigh in on
your side, David.
'Didn't measure up' - is there some universal yardstick for poets and their
work? Musicians? Painters?
I remember something from DEAD POETS SOCIETY: a graph on which one plots the
value of a poem. Do people subscribe to that sort of thing?
Well, like much else, a script for DEAD POETS SOCIETY can be found on the
Internet:
http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/dead_poets_final.html
Here's the relevant passage:
"To fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme, and
figures of speech. Then ask two questions: One, how artfully has the objective
of the poem been rendered, and two, how important is that objective. Question
one rates the poem's perfection, question two rates its importance. And once
these questions have been answered, determining a poem's greatest becomes a
relatively simple matter.
"If the poem's score for perfection is plotted along the horizontal of a graph,
and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area
of the poem yields the measure of its greatness.
"A sonnet by Byron may score high on the vertical, but only average on the
horizontal. A Shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, would score high both
horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing
the poem to be truly great. As you proceed through the poetry in this book,
practice this rating method. As your ability to evaluate poems in this matter
grows, so will your enjoyment and understanding of poetry."
The character Keating thinks that this argument is "excrement" and has his
students rip the pages containing it from their textbooks.
"This is a battle, a war. And the casualties could be your hearts and souls."
Chris Bruce,
waxing romantic, in
Kiel, Germany
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