Comments on: Inaugurations and Occasional Poetry http://sadredearth.com/inaugurations-and-occasional-poetry/ how we lived on it Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:36:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: A. Jay Adler http://sadredearth.com/inaugurations-and-occasional-poetry/comment-page-1/#comment-43789 A. Jay Adler Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:01:54 +0000 http://sadredearth.com/?p=14051#comment-43789 Thanks for following the crumbs, David. I, too, did not agree with all of Rumens' generally insightful analysis. Thanks for following the crumbs, David. I, too, did not agree with all of Rumens’ generally insightful analysis.

]]> By: David J. Bauman http://sadredearth.com/inaugurations-and-occasional-poetry/comment-page-1/#comment-43774 David J. Bauman Fri, 25 Jan 2013 23:08:06 +0000 http://sadredearth.com/?p=14051#comment-43774 Thank you so much for writing this thorough and thoughtful review. And thank you for leaving the breadcrumbs for me to follow you here and find it. I appreciate the link. And yes, the task is a daunting one, and to be done in a matter of weeks! How many can write a lasting poem of the proper length that will appeal to everyone in such time? And no matter how amazing the poem or the poet, there is still the appeal factor. Rumens is an accomplished poet. I've been to Queens College where she used to teach. I have friends and family in Belfast, but I'm not sure that a British poet with a decidedly traditional penchant for iambic pentameter is the best one to judge whether or not an inaugural poet in the United States has "flopped." There was much truth in her review, especially about the impossible nature of occasional poetry, but I was unhappy with her title, and found it presumptuous. In any case, thank you so much for helping to point out that we cannot judge these other four poets by Robert Frost's "The Gift Outright," since he had had plenty of time to write, revise and prepare it's sixteen lines. In the end the poem he wrote for the occasion really probably is one of his worst works, and at 77 lines, longer than Blanco's. I'm thankful he recited the older poem, and I still suspect that he may have come to his senses on that cold morning and though he could read just fine his new manuscript, thought better of it. Well, I find that story more entertaining at least. Again, thanks! Thank you so much for writing this thorough and thoughtful review. And thank you for leaving the breadcrumbs for me to follow you here and find it. I appreciate the link. And yes, the task is a daunting one, and to be done in a matter of weeks! How many can write a lasting poem of the proper length that will appeal to everyone in such time? And no matter how amazing the poem or the poet, there is still the appeal factor.

Rumens is an accomplished poet. I’ve been to Queens College where she used to teach. I have friends and family in Belfast, but I’m not sure that a British poet with a decidedly traditional penchant for iambic pentameter is the best one to judge whether or not an inaugural poet in the United States has “flopped.” There was much truth in her review, especially about the impossible nature of occasional poetry, but I was unhappy with her title, and found it presumptuous.

In any case, thank you so much for helping to point out that we cannot judge these other four poets by Robert Frost’s “The Gift Outright,” since he had had plenty of time to write, revise and prepare it’s sixteen lines. In the end the poem he wrote for the occasion really probably is one of his worst works, and at 77 lines, longer than Blanco’s. I’m thankful he recited the older poem, and I still suspect that he may have come to his senses on that cold morning and though he could read just fine his new manuscript, thought better of it. Well, I find that story more entertaining at least.

Again, thanks!

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