I was reading Jacques Dupin this weekend, in translation by Paul Auster, David Shapiro. I have some bone to pick with some of Auster's translations, but more of that later. What struck me about Dupin's poetry was that it seemed so similar to that of other French poets, especially René Char. There seems to be a pattern in lot of what I've read.

1. The poetic speaker is never a "social subject." He is always a solitary individual in communion with nature. Other human subjects that appear are rather abstract, allegorical.

2. Language seems uniform in register and not extremely varied in referential framework. There is very little colloquialism, or variation in tone. I might be have missed some linguistic variability due to my weak French, but the translations confirm my impression.

3. There is a strong metapoetic dimension: the poetic subject is usually the poet in the act of writing the poem. Mallarmé is still a strong influence.

4. I like this sort of poetry, I really do! But I find it ultimately too narrow in range. There is very little humor or stylistic variation. Compare it to American poetry heavily influenced by the French: The New York School. Ceravolo's "Waitress lips / kiss our cheeks." That observation, while different from anything Reverdy would have written, still has that Pierre Reverdy freshness which I find lacking in Dupin--who nevertheless can be quite powerful within this relatively narrow range.