The Elegant Variation: NEW POET LAUREATE

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July 01, 2010

NEW POET LAUREATE

W.S. Merwin has been named Poet Laureate.

"I do like a very quiet life,” Mr. Merwin said by telephone after learning of his appointment. “I can’t keep popping back and forth between here and Washington.” He said he does relish “being part of something much more public and talking too much,” however, and the job of the nation’s premier poet will enable him to do both."

You can learn more about him from his Poets.org page and his Poetry Foundation biography.

Posted at 11:58 AM in Poets & Poetry | Permalink

Comments

Great to see you back in the saddle my friend.

Posted by: C- | July 01, 2010 at 04:16 PM

While Merwin is undoubtedly one of the most beloved figures on the American poetry scene -- he's also an elderly recluse with health problems who lives on a remote location in Hawaii. He doesn't use email or even have a fax machine. And doesn't want to.

Is the "poet laureate" gig supposed to be an honorific that caps a successful career -- or do we really want someone who is going to champion poetry on the national scene? Isn't it a question that should be raised when the Library of Congress makes the pick?

Posted by: Cynthia Haven | July 04, 2010 at 09:07 AM

CROWN OF BRANCHES

To lure the Wren from his island hole
the Capitol imports its laurels to pay for
the “rusty mutterings” of the drab old bird
who perches with tail cocked straight up
to distinguish himself from the sparrows

“Promote poetry! Like Pinsky!”
some vaguely assert
not knowing themselves
how it’s done

"I can't keep popping
back and forth between here and Washington,"
declares the octogenarian
who can’t even be bothered with punctuation

Chirping and bowing he'll poop from his perch
fly home to walk his dog and write
about this metaphysical journey
proud to have fulfilled his mandate
settling back into Paradise indeed
content to count the calendar days
leaving the sparrows to their worms and seed

Posted by: James Ph. Kotsybar | July 12, 2010 at 09:08 AM

The comments to this entry are closed.

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The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."

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The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

July 01, 2010

NEW POET LAUREATE

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog. A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog "Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

July 01, 2010

NEW POET LAUREATE

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE: Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism