According to Ron Hogan,
To mark the publication of the third edition of The Oxford Book of American Poetry, they're running a poll for "America's Favorite Poem", and so far T.S Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is beating out Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Come on, poetry fans: Are we going to let some monarchy-loving expatriate represent the best-loved American verse? I should think not!Ron wants to know, as do I, why John Greenleaf Whittier didn't make the ballot. I'd have cast my vote for something like "The Barefoot Boy" in a heartbeat, but since that wasn't possible, I contributed to the pathetic total (2%) in the Emma Lazarus column. Not because she's a particular favorite of mine, but because surely there has never been a more "American" poem than "The New Colossus."
Your thoughts?
4 comments:
Hmm. Well I'm not American, and I freely admit I know nothing about poetry, so I'm doubly-unqualified to make a comment, but I'm not going to let that stop me.
Two things occur to me:
1. Just because it's America's favourite poem, does it necessarily have to uphold American values and the American way of life? Can't it just be _by_ an American? I know very little about the poems selected, but that's the implication I draw from your post. If it was England's favourite poem, would I want to see a choice between poems that uphold the monarchy, the Union Jack, and the good old British Empire? Nope. (Actually, a big digression is possible here, because if there were to be such a poll, I bet that's exactly what the choices would be -- jingoistic rubbish from the likes of Rudyard Kipling, Daffodils by Wordsworth -- beautiful, but such an obvious choice -- and barely a look in for the likes of, oh I don't know, W H Auden or William Motion, let alone John Lennon or Billy Bragg, say)
2. If we're really talking America's favourite, as in most popular, rather than "America's most worthy poem" (which I suspect is what this poll is really all about), then I have just two words: Dr Seuss.
Sorry if that all sounds a bit controversial. Maybe it's too early in the morning and I just wanted to mouth off, but from the little I could tell, this "poll" seems to be exactly what I would expect from this sort of thing: providing people with the opportunity to prove how worthy they are by choosing from a set of obvious choices and thereby continuing the status quo.
Just a quick follow-up about my mention of Dr. Seuss. I didn't mean to imply anything negative here. I love Dr Seuss. Most people love Dr Seuss. That was my point, really. Seriously, I think Dr Seuss deserves a place in that poll.
I'm doubly-unqualified to make a comment, but I'm not going to let that stop me.
That's the spirit, Neal. Funny how you sound just like an American!
;-)
!-=*Ouch*=-!
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