Friday 8 February 2008

100 Books Of Poetry

Good post here over on Very Like A Whale - the more I think about it, the more I think what Ron Silliman says (and he does say he's not at all certain) is not that unreasonable. Do a university course on any subject, and you might be expected to have a decent overview of the subject and to show a bit of willing. He's not saying you've got to know all 100 off by heart, after all. Or like them, for that matter.

2 comments:

Ben Wilkinson said...

Seems reasonable enough to me. The more published poetry you expose yourself to the better your appreciation of the art form, and in turn your own writing, becomes. I would think that all of the writers specialising in poetry on the MA that I study on would be able to complete Silliman's challenge. Though you'd have to give me a while to list and talk briefly about each...

B

Matt Merritt said...

Yes, it doesn't seem unreasonable. I'd struggle to name 100 offhand, but sat at home I don't think it would be difficult.