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How can anyone who--apart from Warren--had read Eliot and Yeats, Yeats above all, just those two, can call Warren the greatest anything? Jacek ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michelle Hadden" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 9:58 AM Subject: OT: RPW-- was Wm Logan on TSE & Stevens > I am certainly not interested in beginning another > thread of "the greatest poet ever" (rationale: "because > I think so"); however, one influential poet (at least, > I think so), never seems to pop up, and I'd like > list members' opinions. > > I took a seminar last semester (yes, i'm in training > to join the academic elite. I guess that means I'll > be slammed by a few on the list) in Robert Penn Warren. > I had a very low opinion of him before the seminar, based > solely on information I had read and heard about > him, not having read any of his work myself. > > Our professor believes, and expressed quite adamantly, > that Robert Penn Warren is THE greatest poet of the > 20th century, has been eclipsed by the big splashes > of people like Eliot, and has not been recognized > because he doesn't fit neatly into any of the 20th > century poetic movements. > > Now, while my opinion of Warren has certainly > been raised thanks to a careful reading of his work, > I'm not sure I agree with the professor's assessment > of him as the unsung hero of 20th century poetry. > > Any thoughts? What do you folks think of Warren? > Does he stand a chance? > > > --- "Christopher Tidwell (ENG)" <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: (quoting Logan) > > T. S. Eliot is still the dominant poet of the last > > century. He casts > > a long shadow, and we are not yet out from under it, though he > > is very > > much a poet _of_ the twentieth century. We can't calculate > > how such a > > poet will seem a century hence. (Who in 1900 would have > > thought Shelley's > > reputation would sink so low?) The generation of poets now in > > their > > seventies were baptized in Eliot's language, like Achilles in > > the > > Styx. Younger generations met him as an exhibit in a museum, > > already a > > little dusty (Eliot's lesser poems now look like rotting flags > > in old > > armories). Eliot was a benign influence on later poets, once > > they stopped > > trying to imitate him; but he was a disaster for > > contemporaries like > > Conrad Aiken, who thought Eliot's methods weren't > > patented--poor Aiken > > looks like a carbon copy's carbon copy. > > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more > http://taxes.yahoo.com/ >