Greg Keeler Lectures on Contemporary American Poetry: Reflections

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

On Whitman and his place as the first “contemporary poet” :

What intrigues me about Whitman occupying this position is his relationship to the united states. The U.S. and its democratic principals being an “experiment,” you might say, in the concept of “freedom,” I find there may be a connection to Whitman being the first contemporary poet and the social ideology that gave birth to the poet. Considering Whitman, I particularly emphasize the ideology of the U.S. rather than the specific social climate of the nation during the 19th Century, as ideals of our democracy we are still trying to define and reach in practice (thus, The Theory and Practice of Freedom). Whitman was an individual who conceptualized our democracy’s principals as manifesting an unlimited and unprecedented human freedom. Whitman, himself, strived to live a life reflective of these ideals put into practice. In living, thought, and expression Whitman pushed the very boundaries of the possibilities of freedom’s realities.
Where else could such an individual emerged in the world? Therefore, asking the question of whether or not poetic expression need be nurtured by the soil of social liberty or can it flourish anywhere and, is, therefore, inherent in all human beings but seldom expressed. Is there a parallel here then between what the U.S.’s ideology was and is still doing in the world as far as human potential is concerned and what Whitman did for the chains of poetics?

Influences:

A thought that came to mind during our discussion on Tuesday was influences and, in particular, the influences upon contemporary poetry. Greg’s comment about e.e. cummings and the typewriter, cummings particular fascination with it and the resulting influence of this fascination upon his work. What about computers? Laptops, especially, make it possible to write just about anywhere and, more specifically, to “publish” your work to the world within minutes. Word Processing programs...the possibilities are endless. And today, with the advent of voice recognition technology, the very definition of “writing” is changing. Writing, for example, like any artistic medium is just a vehicle upon which to express our thoughts and artistic vision and sensibilities. At one time, we used a quill, then a pen to a printing press, a typewriter, and the computer and word processor. With voice recognition, once the technology is perfected, having to go through the tedious act of typing will become obsolete, and, glass of our favorite libation in hand, we can close our eyes in the dark, speak into a microphone on a headset and watch our thoughts transcribed into type on a word processing program later to be edited an put into print. Imagine the freedom. This begs the question of what is writing, exactly? Artistic expression, an attempt to translate thoughts, not necessarily the banging away on keys, however stimulating this may be.
Also, on influences, the airplane, the satellite, the Internet, technology of all kinds, nuclear power, machines, television, phones, computers, etc. All of these have the power to influence, whether this influence is conscious or not. It may be, in fact, inescapable.

On the State of Contemporary Poetry as “opened up”

If that’s where we are, a poetic age in which both formalism and contemporary approaches to poetry can be embraced, what does this say about our cultural milieu? Are we finally, in general, getting beyond “black and white” dualistic thinking to something else? If so, what does this say about the future of poetry? Where will we go from here? Confessional poetry in formalist form? New forms? A complete abandonment of form? (already happening really). In any case, you might say that, similar to earlier observations on Whitman and his emerging as a “contemporary” poet, poetry of the 21st century will reflect the unique individual and social possibilities of its age.