Yr esteemed sir,

I have, for a while, been toying with an idea for a book, to be called Modernism and its Discontents: Poetic Reactions Against the Rise of Free Verse in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, with chapters to cover CAS, HPL, REH, DSF, among the better-known to this group, as well as poets such as Hugh McCrae, James McAuley, Christopher Brennan, and so on, among those that aren't. I must add that McCrae is a writer of weird verse that would be very much of interest in CAS' less cosmic verse.

Anyway, I would appreciate your advice concerning other poets to consider, especially those that you consider as major figures in the traditions of formalist verse.

yrs

Phillip

Blog: The Cruellest Month -- [the-cruellest-month.blogspot.com.au]
Website: [www.phillipaellis.com]

australianreaderdotcom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yr esteemed sir,
>
> I have, for a while, been toying with an idea for
> a book, to be called Modernism and its
> Discontents: Poetic Reactions Against the Rise of
> Free Verse in the Twentieth and Twenty-First
> Centuries, with chapters to cover CAS, HPL, REH,
> DSF, among the better-known to this group, as well
> as poets such as Hugh McCrae, James McAuley,
> Christopher Brennan, and so on, among those that
> aren't. I must add that McCrae is a writer of
> weird verse that would be very much of interest in
> CAS' less cosmic verse.
>
> Anyway, I would appreciate your advice concerning
> other poets to consider, especially those that you
> consider as major figures in the traditions of
> formalist verse.
>
> yrs
>
> Phillip


I'm not sure that I can be much help to you - however I can tell you that Clark loved Dylan Thomas, and, after I introduced him to the little known work of Henry Reid (poignant and pointed satire par excellence), he loved that work as well - I encountered Reid at Thomas concert reading - Just before Dylan died from a lack of blood in his alcohol stream. I think your idea is excellent, and I assume you are asking for references that are modern - I will give this some more thought, and may have another idea or two for you - thanks for asking

I have been working some more on the concept, and have come up with a tentative list of poets, most contemporaneous with high Modernism. There has been a further narrowing of focus to Australian and US authors, as well.

In any case, the US authors I am interested in examining are:

Clark Ashton Smith
George Sterling
H. P. Lovecraft
Robert E. Howard
and
Donald Sidney-Fryer

the Australians are, at present,
Hugh McCrae
Christopher Brennan
James McAuley
and possibly
Harold Stewart

In any case, I would appreciate your continued input and feedback as the process continues. And CAS' interest in Dylan Thomas is a facet both hitherto unknown to me, and of interest.

yrs

Phillip

Blog: The Cruellest Month -- [the-cruellest-month.blogspot.com.au]
Website: [www.phillipaellis.com]

Please take a look at Reid - particularly "Naming of Parts" and a satire on T.S. Eliot called "Chard Witlow"(a satire on Eliot's "burnt Norton" - Clark also wrote a satire on Eliot - Dylan Thomas recited this in imitation of Eliot's voice during his Saturday broadcasts during the war - hilarious - and, please note - Clark loved satire, hated sarcasm)

I shall gladly take a look at Reid, and envisage that I shall, in doing so, take great pleasure from his work. Thank you!

Hugh McCrae is an interesting poet, in a number of ways. Very much a vitalist, like Norman Lindsay, with whom he developed a close friendship. Very much a poet of pure joy, one of the aspects I delight in with his work.

May I pass along a link to a copy of McCrae's work on the internet?

Blog: The Cruellest Month -- [the-cruellest-month.blogspot.com.au]
Website: [www.phillipaellis.com]

australianreaderdotcom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I shall gladly take a look at Reid, and envisage
> that I shall, in doing so, take great pleasure
> from his work. Thank you!
>
> Hugh McCrae is an interesting poet, in a number of
> ways. Very much a vitalist, like Norman Lindsay,
> with whom he developed a close friendship. Very
> much a poet of pure joy, one of the aspects I
> delight in with his work.
>
> May I pass along a link to a copy of McCrae's work
> on the internet?
regrettably the link was not longer in service - could you just type it up and post it? or send to to me personally if you prefer -

while the Link didn't work, googling did, and I quickly found a site with 4 poems, notably Australian Spring - but I found Bridal Song the most tightly written - moving from his image of Bees, to ending with Mead and wine was a tour de force, and the kind of thing CAS did all the time - mead being basically fermented honey wine - very nice indeed - I will try these aloud later - the true test of poetry - thank you for the introduction to Australian writers -

Feel free to drop me an email at my gmail address, and I shall send you a PDF copy of one of his books. Unfortunately, it is not the Fanfrolico edition, which I have had the pleasure of viewing once.

Yrs

Phillip

Blog: The Cruellest Month -- [the-cruellest-month.blogspot.com.au]
Website: [www.phillipaellis.com]