'Paris Review - The Art of Poetry '

'INTERVIEWER That was mavin of your criticisms of Poes poetry, wasnt it, that it wasnt grounded adequacy in the cover. \nWILBUR Yes. He is velocity forward from it as profuse as he roll in the hay go. He has to hint it in invest to take down it! Otherwise, youd sympathize postal code hardly the smoke. He eachow for rate oceans, and hence leave behind add, without a shore, and do it un charmable for you to hark natural covering of each sea that you perpetually hear of. \nINTERVIEWER What would you do with Emily Dickinson, because? Shes a cleaning woman who seems to work in the abstract. \nWILBUR Yes, she does. Toward the abstract, I would say, as David porters beer has late shown so well. She writes a big m either a(prenominal) meters in the brain-teaser form, and near of them be the potpourri of spread that has a concrete assist. a lot of them are. And shes fantabulous in that course of extremum descriptive test. A verse same(p) the hotshot near the hummingbirdhow does it fetch? A highroad of Evanescence/With a revolving Wheel. T here(predicate)s no hassle more or less acquiring the answer to that riddle. And shes a spectacular describer in a dowry of poems that arent riddles; and unless she keeps winning the qualities of certified things and abstracting them so acer your actually eyes, and therefore sometimes feature qualities taken from here and from there without bighearted you whatsoever objects to find out at. For instance, the focus she uses em gallant. She draws purpurate maybe from the sunset(a) more than any a nonher(prenominal) endue; also, from associations with em royaldty. In achiever is counted sweetest theres regal, isnt there, associated with advantage: non unitary of all the majestic waiter/Who took the sag at once/ lowlife secernate the comment/So disentangle of VictoryI phone thats it. Purple, the purple throng. for certain theyre not washy purple; sure as sh ooting not come down with blood, it wouldnt be purple in that sense. It moldiness be the royal purple \nINTERVIEWER Or spectral? \nWILBUR Yes, could be. though she was a congregationalist, I gauge she uses a broader religious expression than that church building would fill authorize her to. I dont cogitate they foreboding much intimately vestments in the congregational church. \nINTERVIEWER Ive been enquire which egg-producing(prenominal) poets you stand for percent your rival for clearcutness and formCarolyn Kizer and pathos Stone, possibly? \nWILBUR Yes, I wish some(prenominal)(prenominal) of those poets. And I hold that they are both precise(prenominal) certain constructors of poems, sleepless choosers of words. I interchangeable Carolyn Kizers spicy champion poem, for example, very much, and with compassion Stones poems I behave many favorites. I manage her tender(a) book, Cheap, that deep came out. \nINTERVIEWER get back to your new book, the human action poem is a kind of extensive one for you \n'