Comments on: In response to criticism: Why Epic Poetry Can Return http://returnofthemuse.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/in-response-to-criticism-why-epic-poetry-can-return/ Supporting the Poetry Revolution through posts about Romans on Mars Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:33:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: paisleyandplaid http://returnofthemuse.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/in-response-to-criticism-why-epic-poetry-can-return/#comment-982 paisleyandplaid Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:37:13 +0000 http://returnofthemuse.wordpress.com/?p=360#comment-982 The basis for the humanities is story. Even a lyric poem or a painting implies story -- something there was that inspired. Who was she? What happened? Why that? There are answers to these questions and that is literature. It is disjointed only if the writer is. You might like my post on trying to define classics at paisleyandplaid.wordpress.com. The basis for the humanities is story. Even a lyric poem or a painting implies story — something there was that inspired. Who was she? What happened? Why that? There are answers to these questions and that is literature. It is disjointed only if the writer is.

You might like my post on trying to define classics at paisleyandplaid.wordpress.com.

]]> By: schildan http://returnofthemuse.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/in-response-to-criticism-why-epic-poetry-can-return/#comment-981 schildan Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:13:06 +0000 http://returnofthemuse.wordpress.com/?p=360#comment-981 Wow! Thanks for your comment! The more I hear from people like you, the more I realize that we are the majority--not the postmoderns and their "anti-technique." Wow! Thanks for your comment! The more I hear from people like you, the more I realize that we are the majority–not the postmoderns and their “anti-technique.”

]]> By: penultimategurlfriend http://returnofthemuse.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/in-response-to-criticism-why-epic-poetry-can-return/#comment-977 penultimategurlfriend Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:46:06 +0000 http://returnofthemuse.wordpress.com/?p=360#comment-977 Of course epic poetry can return. The idea that "our societies are too disunified, to[o] fragmented to accept the text as embodying core cultural values, and embodying a clear and definable crisis in its history" is a very popular one at this moment in the literary world. This point of view spawns our current overa-abundance of "avant-garde" poetry, which takes its impenetrable style and anti-technique from a theory-based look at the global canon as something that is not inherently reflective of a shared humanity, but something that is inherently unstable and incomprehensible in any even remotely universal way way by any two humans. This idea is very trendy right now. It is, in essence, the cornerstone of what we call the "post-modern" writer's vision. Everything is disjointed. We are alienated. We stare into the abyss. Blah blah blah. As ar as I can tell, only dull and lazy people lack a "sense of history, purpose and technique...that would make this possible." And there are plenty of excellent poets out there today who are being treated as pariahs by so-called "experts" in the academy, while simultaneously proving their critics wrong by finding publishers and audiences for their work. Good for you for writing an epic poem! We need more long, narrative poems...that's for sure! Of course epic poetry can return. The idea that “our societies are too disunified, to[o] fragmented to accept the text as embodying core cultural values, and embodying a clear and definable crisis in its history” is a very popular one at this moment in the literary world. This point of view spawns our current overa-abundance of “avant-garde” poetry, which takes its impenetrable style and anti-technique from a theory-based look at the global canon as something that is not inherently reflective of a shared humanity, but something that is inherently unstable and incomprehensible in any even remotely universal way way by any two humans. This idea is very trendy right now. It is, in essence, the cornerstone of what we call the “post-modern” writer’s vision. Everything is disjointed. We are alienated. We stare into the abyss. Blah blah blah. As ar as I can tell, only dull and lazy people lack a “sense of history, purpose and technique…that would make this possible.” And there are plenty of excellent poets out there today who are being treated as pariahs by so-called “experts” in the academy, while simultaneously proving their critics wrong by finding publishers and audiences for their work. Good for you for writing an epic poem! We need more long, narrative poems…that’s for sure!

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