tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759353.post2808492523630847467..comments2023-08-29T02:42:23.063-05:00Comments on ¡Bemsha SWING!: Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759353.post-10178675815378315092008-04-09T17:06:00.000-05:002008-04-09T17:06:00.000-05:00You are right, he was popular way before the movie...You are right, he was popular way before the movie. But his books weren't in supermarkets before the movie. It not only kept "things" going a little longer, but made "things" a lot deeper for Neruda. <BR/><BR/>In our culture, never underestimate the pervasiveness of the visual.Steven Famahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13733977161680651117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759353.post-73251521875716594122008-04-09T14:10:00.000-05:002008-04-09T14:10:00.000-05:00Neruda was popular way before that movie. That ju...Neruda was popular way before that movie. That just keeps things going a little longer.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759353.post-40439296449227611592008-04-09T13:47:00.000-05:002008-04-09T13:47:00.000-05:00Neruda's popularity is also a function of the movi...Neruda's popularity is also a function of the movie <I>Il Postino</I>.Steven Famahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13733977161680651117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759353.post-47371287223080836252008-04-03T15:01:00.000-05:002008-04-03T15:01:00.000-05:00I've beent thinking similarly; have been meaning t...I've beent thinking similarly; have been meaning to blog about it -- or maybe even "write" about it! 70 years from now, Dr. Seuss is going to figure as prominently in visions of 20th century poetry as Lewis Carroll does in 19th century poetry today.<BR/><BR/>Thanks!Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07000424514491809383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759353.post-34695412634059012322008-04-03T13:50:00.000-05:002008-04-03T13:50:00.000-05:00Yes. Balladeers. Nowadays we call them singer so...Yes. Balladeers. Nowadays we call them singer songwriters, like Leonard Cohen. <BR/><BR/>So what I'm saying is that we have to count highbrow, middlebrow, and pop culture all as part of poetry and take into account a comparison across several periods with changing media, and poets with appeal across more than one part of this range. Maybe Collins is not as popular as Sandburg once was. Does that translate into "poetry" not being as popular now as then? <BR/><BR/>I think vocal music counts, so Lorenz Hart is going to be a very popular poet looking back on the 20th century.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759353.post-3546356274975494712008-04-03T13:22:00.000-05:002008-04-03T13:22:00.000-05:00Burma-Shave!Burma-Shave!Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07000424514491809383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759353.post-70888314444032394902008-04-03T13:21:00.000-05:002008-04-03T13:21:00.000-05:00Where do Rod McKuen and Hugh Prather fit in? Do t...Where do Rod McKuen and Hugh Prather fit in? <BR/><BR/>Do they equivalents today?<BR/><BR/>19th-century balladeers were really popular. The only survivals from that tradition are "A Visit From St. Nicholas" and "Casey at the Bat," but sentimental and dramatic poems like "The Old Oaken Bucket" and "Casabianca" were hugely popular. W.S. Gilbert made a living as a writer of comic verse ("The Bab Ballads") before he hooked up with Sullivan; Ira Gershwin & Yip Harburg published "light verse" too before they hit as writers of song lyrics. <BR/><BR/>The Golden Age of popular poetry is not now. NPR and the internet are pop, but nothing close to the universality of newspapers 100 years ago and the popularity of poetry for hundreds of years before. Michael Schmidt argues that the popularity of broadside ballads kept the first English printers in business! NPR poetry always has an air of "it's supposed to be good for you," when earlier pop poetry did not.<BR/><BR/>Tennyson & Browning made good livings from their poetry. They wrote best-sellers! Byron transcended not because of his popularity -- which was huge -- but because of his rock-star iconicity -- he shows up in Bertrand Russell's "A History of Western Philosophy" as a philosophically influential icon of romanticism! <BR/><BR/>Poetry stayed popular well into the 20th century. American high school students all knew Longfellow & Whittier -- and Sandburg and Masters. Gertrude Stein wrote a best-seller! Prose, the Autobiography, which she parlayed into a successful, popular gig touring as a lecturer. Dylan Thomas was a rock star; Langston Hughes was pop (and wrote songs with Kurt Weill); Brecht wrote a Top 40 hit (when it was translated into English). Rexroth kept expecting (North) American poets to continue to write hit songs, and was pleased when Leonard Cohen pretty much did so.<BR/><BR/>Despite all my quibbles -- thanks for the post! Interesting to consider different ways of popularity in poetry. Rumi, Neruda, and Rilke ARE popular -- and it's interesting to consider why.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07000424514491809383noreply@blogger.com