 |
| Fleda Brown |
April is National Poetry Month, and Fleda Brown, Delaware’s poet laureate and UD professor of English, offers her views on what makes a good poem, discusses inspiration and offers advice to aspiring poets.
Q. In your opinion what makes a good poem?
A. Emily Dickinson said she knew a poem when she read it because it took the top of her head off. A poem should see the world, or use the language (or both) in a fresh way. We should be both charmed and stretched beyond the expected. A good poem is carefully, carefully crafted to appear so natural and spontaneous that you're not aware of the struggle behind the scenes.
A good poem looks at the world (at people, things, actions and so on) closely, almost with a magnifying glass, most of the time, but in that intense gaze, we feel a kinship with a much larger vision. It doesn't try to preach at us or convince us of a point of view, but we are changed by being immersed in that world of the poem, at that moment.
There's line at the end of a poem by the great 20th-century Austrian poet Ranier Maria Rilke. The poem is "Archaic Bust of Apollo." The speaker looks so closely at that headless statue that at the end he feels that "there is no place" on the statue "that does not see you. You must change your life."
That's the way a good poem works. It makes you know you must change your life. You feel you must be more true, more honest in the world, because the words of the poem have waked you up. You're not sleepwalking in the cliches you may usually live by.
Q. What inspires you to write poetry?
A. Nearly anything. Inspiration happens only after a long struggle with not much of anything. Writing is like standing out in a field waiting to be struck by lightning. You can stand there–you can write–a long time with not much to show for it. But if you don't stand there–if you don't write–you'll never get struck.
In other words, you have to work when you have no inspiration. You have to slog along writing stuff that may not amount to anything. Then one day the gods will give you a present, a reward for all that slogging. A good poem will come.
Q. What advice do you have for aspiring poets?
A. Well, of course you must find out what the soil is like that you grew out of. You must read poetry–both old and new. You must read the old poets to see what you're made of. You must read the new ones to learn how to go in new directions, to give you ideas, to make you jealous so that you work hard.
You must also read prose–novels, essays and magazines. You must immerse yourself in the language of your world.
Then you must write a lot. Every day would be nice, but I don't manage to do that myself. But when I write, I focus, and I stay with it until I drop. You must find someone who's farther along as a craftsperson than you are and be willing to take that person's advice. You might want to take a workshop.
There's always the maverick who never shows her work to anyone, and who never takes a workshop, yet ends up writing fine poetry. But this is rare, and is usually a result of intense private study. Sometimes a person manages to write a splendid poem with no work and no training, but just as you can hit a surprisingly high score the first time you go bowling, it turns out to be beginner's luck, and must be followed by lots of hard work to measure up to that lucky start.
Brown will read from her latest work at 3 p.m., Sunday, May 12, at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, 276 South College Ave.
April 22, 2002
|
