text:
On American Poetry Criticism;
& Other Dastardly –Isms
B.R. Myers, the Atlantic Monthly, & Molotov
by Dan Schneider, 9/27/01
[Click here for B.R. Myers' A Reader's Manifesto, or I'll email you a copy if the link is outdated or no longer working.]
I have often repeated the statement that as bad as
American Poetry has been in the last 3 decades or so, American Poetry Criticism
[note that I don't even touch editorship!] has been worse. I hereby revoke
that sentiment. American Poetry Criticism [APC] has NEVER been good- unlike
American Poetry, itself. Now I long knew such fiends as the New Critics had
their limitations, but at least they would show negativity when needed. However,
their obvious limitations were SO obvious that I never thought it worth
commenting on. Plus, they did have some good points to make. But, enough of
that- FOR NOW! I shall roast their
asses in a later edition of this new series; the spur of which has been the good
fortune to find a lot of books of poetry criticism real cheap in recent months.
Aside from the NC's, aka DWMs, I came across C. Day Lewis [OK- he's a Brit],
Randall Jarrell [hint- THE single most overrated critic in American history-
even beating out Mr. Eliot!], Carolyn Kizer, books on How To Read A Poem,
Donald Hall [my!], a critical anthology edited by Donald Hall [my, my!], & a
bevy of other books. In short- a Superfund Cleanup grant could not rescue
American Poetry Criticism at this point. But I shall endeavor a bit. What's to
My spur comes
from the recent article published in the 7-8/01 Atlantic Monthly magazine
by 1 B.R. Myers- by all reports a tyro reviewer & amateur Molotov
cocktailist. This article will be the kickoff to this series. But- er, you say-
wasn't that piece titled A Reader's Manifesto: An attack on the growing
pretentiousness of American literary prose? Yes. So? It is only a
springboard for the shallow pool we will be banging our low-slung skulls upon.
Bear with me. What I will do is 1) comment on some of the major credits &
flaws in the piece, 2) relate some of his views on prose to concurrencies in
verse, 3) relate some of the justified & unjustified responses on the piece,
& 4) finally relate some of these responses to concurrencies in verse &
its criticism- plus a summation. That'll get us through Part 1 of this series.
I trust you will bear with me as this is something that will be ongoing, take
months or years to complete, will be interspersed with lighter essays of all
sorts, plus always be competing with poetry for my time- a contest it will
always come in 2nd to! Also, I make no claims to having read in full
any of the selected books that Myers assails- my concern is more on Myers'
piece & its relation to poetry- not on whether his opinions on the writers
& books he names are correct.
On to the
article! Let us 1st examine the pros & cons in the piece &
comment. This piece is a prototypical Molotov cocktail designed as invective to
cause a fuss. It has succeeded brilliantly. But as with such past pieces, its
major flaw is that it does little to illuminate WHAT is good prose writing, nor
HOW to achieve it. In this regard both Myers & the Atlantic Monthly
were lazy- he in writing & thought, they in editing. That laziness reveals
that a lot of the true aims of the piece were merely invective- just time for a
snit- rather than a discussion. Let us start off with some of the major pros
& cons in the piece. & let me state that I am an expert in poetry &
even more of an outsider to American prose than Myers- a man who- if reports are
correct- has been a college professor for some years. I will also apologize up
front for some of the lengths of my excerpts from Myers' article but since I
chide him on occasion for poor selection the reason for the lengths is obvious.
1) The essay itself: CON: The hackneyed pose as mere Reader by a professor,
& the even more trite declaration of a 'Manifesto'- in lieu of serious
discussion! Ah, how the academics love the plebeians- at least when they try to
fob themselves off as an 'average Joe'! PRO: He attacks some of the critical shorthand &
hypocrisy reviewers display toward 'genre fiction' vs. 'literary
fiction': 'Today any accessible, fast-moving story written in unaffected
prose is deemed to be "genre fiction"—at best an excellent
"read" or a "page turner," but never literature with a
capital L.' He gives a pretty good example: 'The dualism of literary
versus genre has all but routed the old trinity of highbrow, middlebrow, and
lowbrow, which was always invoked tongue-in-cheek anyway. Writers who would once
have been called middlebrow are now assigned, depending solely on their degree
of verbal affectation, to either the literary or the genre camp. David Guterson
is thus granted Serious Writer status for having buried a murder mystery under
sonorous tautologies (Snow Falling on Cedars, 1994), while Stephen King,
whose Bag of Bones (1998) is a more intellectual but less pretentious
novel, is still considered to be just a very talented genre storyteller.'
Now, while I may disagree with Myers on Stephen King's worth as a writer-
genre or serious- his take on Guterson is dead on. His writing is a generic
bore, thoroughly schooled in the workshop, & evident on the few pages I
could stand to read from the book. This is in opposition to fine, individuated,
& great fictionists like Charles Johnson, Kurt Vonnegut, & William
CON: His examples are sometimes self-defeating. He falls in
to the triple traps of namedropping, pointless digression [into pointless
examples], & occasional bigwordthrowingarounding. Here is an example: 'In
Aldous Huxley's Those Barren Leaves (1925) a character named Mr. Cardan
makes a point that may explain today's state of affairs. PRO: He identifies some of the worst critical prose clichés
& explains their failings: On Annie Proulx: 'Her writing, like that of
so many other novelists today, is touted as "evocative" and
"compelling." The reason these vague attributes have become the
literary catchwords of our time, even more popular than "raw" and
"angry" were in the 1950s, is that they allow critics to praise a
writer's prose without considering its effect on the reader. It is easier to
call writing like Proulx's lyrically evocative or poetically compelling than to
figure out what it evokes, or what it compels the reader to think and feel. How
can Close Range really impart a sense of life in Wyoming when
everything—from the loneliness of the plains to the grisly violence it
actuates—is described in the same razzle-dazzle style, the same jumpy rhythms?
And why should we care about characters whose gruesome deaths and injuries are
treated only as a pretext for more wordplay?' & 'Proulx's
sentences are often praised for having a life of their own: they "dance and
coil, slither and pounce" (K. Francis Tanabe, The Washington Post),
"every single sentence surprises and delights and just bowls you over"
(Carolyn See, The Washington Post), a Proulx sentence "whistles and
snaps" (Dan Cryer, Newsday). In 1999 Tanabe kicked off the Post's online
discussion of Proulx's work by asking participants to join him in "choosing
your favorite sentence(s) from any of the stories in Close Range." I doubt
that any reviewer in our more literate past would have expected people to have
favorite sentences from a work of prose fiction. A favorite character or scene,
sure; a favorite line of dialogue, maybe; but not a favorite sentence. We have
to read a great book more than once to realize how consistently good the prose
is, because the first time around, and often even the second, we're too involved
in the story to notice. If Proulx's fiction is so compelling, why are its fans
more impressed by individual sentences than by the whole?' Or on
Harper's critic Vince Passaro: 'This is typical of today's reviewers, who
shy away from discussing prose style at length, even when they are praising it
as the main reason to buy a book. The reader is either told some nonsense about
sentences that "slither and pounce" or given an excerpt in its own
graphic box, with no commentary at all. The critic's implication: "If you
can't see why that's great writing, I'm not going to waste my time trying to
explain." This must succeed in bullying some people, or else all the
purveyors of what the critic Paul Fussell calls the "unreadable second-rate
pretentious" would have been forced to find honest work long ago. Still,
I'll bet that for every three readers who finished Passaro's article, two made a
mental note to avoid new short fiction like the plague. Even a nation
brainwashed to equate artsiness with art knows when its eyelids are drooping.'
* A demerit, however, for Myers' sometimes falling into the trap of not
explaining bad writing's badness well!
CON: His examples are sometimes flat out wrong & worse-
rely on clichés- see underlined: 'The decline of American prose
since the 1950s is nowhere more apparent than in the decline of the long
sentence. Today anything longer than two or three lines is likely to be a
simple list of attributes or images. Proulx relies heavily on such sentences,
which often call to mind a bad photographer hurrying through a slide show. In
this scene from Accordion Crimes (1996) a woman has just had her arms
sliced off by a piece of sheet metal.
She stood there, amazed, rooted, seeing the grain of the PRO: His examples are sometimes on the mark &
well-explained- pro or con. On Cormac McCarthy: 'The Orchard Keeper (1965), his
debut novel, is a masterpiece of careful and restrained writing. An excerpt from
the first page:
Far down the blazing strip of concrete a small shapeless CON: Myers cops out in limiting his assault on the all-too
easy bastion of DWM Academia without going after the PC Elitists whose prose
crap is as bad or worse than those writers mentioned: Toni Morrison, Alice
Walker, Amy Tan, Maya Angelou, etc., aka 'The Oprah Gang'! The reason for
this playing it safe is obvious: the firestorm unleashed at him by Academics
& their critical toadies is nothing compared to the opprobrium that would be
leveled at him were he to reveal the PC Elitists for what they are- phonies.
Instead of the high-minded attempt at attack there would be all sorts of
namecalling- from homophobic, racist, etc. to who knows what? DWMs & their
minions are formidable, powerful, but have enough enemies to diffuse the
backlash- but attack the Oprah Gang, in a major magazine? No way! Myers lacks
the balls, even though their dilutive effect on writing rivals or surpasses the
PRO: He makes good points on bad poetry masquerading as
prose: 'Like Proulx and so
While inside the vaulting of the ribs between his knees PRO: He makes good points on faux depth & prose
writers' reliance on exegesis. On Don DeLillo: 'White Noise also
continues a long intellectual tradition of exaggerating the effects of
advertising. Here Steffie, the narrator's young daughter, talks in her sleep.
She uttered two clearly audible words, familiar and
Toyota Celica.
A long moment passed before I realized this was the CON: His examples are sometimes poor because he takes his
selections without even attempting to give us context from where in the
writer's work the selection is from or why the character may be in said state:
'Anyone who doubts the declining literacy of book reviewers need only
consider how the gabbiest of all prose styles is invariably praised as
"lean," "spare," even "minimalist." I am
referring, of course, to the Paul Auster School of Writing.
It was dark in the room when he woke up. Quinn could This could
be said in half as many words, but then we might feel even more inclined to ask
why it needs to be said at all. (Who ever thought of night and day as an
absolute condition anyway?) The flat, laborious wordiness signals that this is
avant-garde stuff, to miss the point of which would put us on the level of the
morons who booed Le Sacre du Printemps. But what is the point? Is the passage
meant to be banal, in order to trap philistines into complaining about it,
thereby leaving the cognoscenti to relish the irony on some postmodern level? Or
is there really some hidden significance to all this time-zone business? The
point, as Auster's fans will tell you, is that there can be no clear answers to
such questions; fiction like City of Glass urges us to embrace the intriguing
ambiguities that fall outside the framework of the conventional novel. All
interpretations of the above passage are allowed, even encouraged—except, of
course, for the most obvious one: that Auster is simply wasting our time.'
Well, no B.R., while your point on the literacy of critics is right on, we have
no idea about where this piece is from- the actual words are fine & could be
very apt to the character's state- YOU simply do not let us know that with
your selection- therefore stating it in ½ the words may have been the wrong
move! And obviously- as to your parenthetical query- the character thought of
that! Whether it was forced we do not know- again the fault of your selection.
And again the creeping T.S. Eliotism!
PRO: He makes good points about the edginess-irony quotient
in today's novels & culture- & note his pointing out of tautology: 'In
this excerpt from White Noise, Jack and his family go shopping.
In the mass and variety of our purchases, in the sheer
His body burst into dozens of small pieces, and
Blue can only surmise what the case is not. To say what
My father was tight; my mother was extravagant. She
Inexpressible desires, intangible needs, and unarticulated
Still and all, Mr. Bones was a dog. From the tip of his CON: He slips into personal biases too often, which
detracts from his other positive points. Note here how overly analytical he is
being on a relatively benign- neither great nor bad- passage, as well the
resentful tone- betrayed by the later nitpicking- of comparison between authors
not named Myers: 'Like Cormac McCarthy, to whom he is occasionally
compared, Guterson thinks it more important to sound literary than to make
sense. This is the oft-quoted opening to East of the Mountains (1999).
On the night he had appointed his last among the living, PRO: He makes a very important point re: -isms. The more
–isms you spout the less you have to talk about the work itself: 'Like
DeLillo, Auster knows the prime rule of pseudo-intellectual writing: the harder
it is to be pinned down on any idea, the easier it is to conceal that one has no
ideas at all.'
CON: He too often follows a good point with a bad, such as
chastising Toni Morrison [albeit tapdancingly & tip-toe-edly], yet claiming
the absolute about great writing. But a demerit for letting American
Literature's Public Enemy # 1 [Oprah!] off the hook!: 'At the 1999
National Book Awards ceremony Oprah Winfrey told of calling Toni Morrison to say
that she had had to puzzle over many of the latter's sentences. According to
Oprah, Morrison's reply was "That, my dear, is called reading." Sorry,
my dear Toni, but it's actually called bad writing. Great prose isn't always
easy, but it's always lucid; no one of Oprah's intelligence ever had to wonder
what Joseph Conrad was trying to say in a particular sentence. This didn't stop
the talk-show host from quoting her friend's words with approval.'
PRO: He makes good points on overwriting. This on David
Guterson's Snow Falling On Cedars (1994): 'The word thing is used
to add bulk. "You could not explain to anybody why everything was
folly" becomes It was not even a thing you could explain to anybody, why it
was that everything was folly. "His cynicism disturbed him" becomes
His cynicism...was a thing that disturbed him. "He believed that"
becomes he had this CON: He gives only 1 example of good writing, & it's
a bad example because it's not well-written, makes his point fall into the
'good old days' cliché- it's from 1947, & is poorly selected because
we're given no context to explain why this is more than digressive fluff: 'Older
fiction also serves to remind us of the power of unaffected English. In this
scene from Saul Bellow's The Victim (1947) a man meets a woman at a
Fourth of July picnic.
He saw her running in the women's race, her arms close Scenes
that show why a character falls in love are rarely convincing in novels. This
one works beautifully, and with none of the "evocative" metaphor
hunting or postmodern snickering that tends to accompany such scenes today. The
syntax is simple but not unnaturally terse—a point worth emphasizing to those
who think that the only alternative to contemporary writerliness is the plodding
style of Raymond Carver. Bellow's verbal restraint makes the unexpected
repetition of what a difference all the more touching. The entire novel is
marked by the same quiet brilliance. As Christopher Isherwood once said to Cyril
Connolly, real talent manifests itself not in a writer's affectation but
"in the exactness of his observation [and] the justice of his
situations."' Well, given that Myers ripped writing that went on too
long- especially one where time was clearly distending- this overanalytical
approach to love seems an unlikely piece to praise. Again, Myers' biases
surface. 'Quiet brilliance'? That Myers' critiques often violate
Isherwood's dictum also seems to be a point of 'huh?' Now, in fairness,
this piece by Bellow may indeed be more, but if Myers is going to quote he
should choose selections that stand on their own- unless the point is to show a
selection's dependence on its placement in a text.
PRO: He points out the obvious hypocrisies in contemporary
prose writing & its accoutrements: 'It's easy to despair of ever seeing
a return to that kind of prose, especially with the cultural elite doing such a
quietly efficient job of maintaining the status quo. (Rick Moody received an O.
Henry Award for "Demonology" in 1997, whereupon he was made an O.
Henry juror himself. And so it goes.) But the paper chain of mediocrity would
probably perpetuate itself anyway. Clumsy writing begets clumsy thought, which
begets even clumsier writing. The only way out is to look back to a time when
authors had more to say than "I'm a Writer!"; when the novel wasn't
just a 300-page caption for the photograph on the inside jacket.' *Yet, a
demerit for his next sentence: 'A reorientation toward tradition would
benefit writers no less than readers.' Or, on Guterson's Snow Falling
On Cedars again: 'Only the sex scenes, which even his fans lament, are
laughably bad.
"Have you ever done this before?" he whispered.
"Never," answered Hatsue. "You're my only."
"It's right," she remembered whispering. "It feels so
"Tadaima aware ga wakatta," he had answered. "I If Jackie
Collins had written that, reviewers would have had a field day with You're my
only, the searching penis, the shudder's slow run. Thanks to that scrotum slap,
which makes you wonder just what Hatsue's body felt the rightness of, the
passage fails even on a Harlequin Romance level. But critics gamely overlook the
whole mess, because by this point in the book Guterson has already established
himself as a Serious Writer—mainly by length and somberness, but also by all
those Japanese words.' This is absolutely perfect criticism. Its solitude
reverbs in others' critiques, however, CON: He makes inapt comparisons to things beyond his
purview: 'For all that Georgian talk of modernity, it was T. S. Eliot, a
man fascinated by the "presence" of the past, who wrote the
most-innovative poetry of his time.' Sorry, B.R., but 1 of the reasons
Eliot has fallen so far from his perch in the last 35 years is because of how
stilted & unoriginal the bulk his verse was. Hint- leave the BS to the BSers
at the Academy of American Poetry!
PRO: A good invective end to the piece: 'Feel free to
disparage these recommendations, but can anyone outside of the big publishing
houses claim that the mere fact of newness should entitle a novel to more of our
attention? Many readers wrestle with only one bad book before concluding that
they are too dumb to enjoy anything "challenging." Their first foray
into literature shouldn't have to end, for lack of better advice, on the third
page of something like Underworld. At the very least, the critics could start
toning down their hyperbole. How better to ensure that Faulkner and Melville
remain unread by the young than to invoke their names in praise of some new bore
every week? How better to discourage clear and honest self-expression than to
call Annie Proulx—as Carolyn See did in The Washington Post—"the best
prose stylist working in English now, bar none"? So, overall,
the good points slightly outnumber the bad 10-9. This is therefore a worthwhile
piece of writing, but 1 knows it could have done so much more. It serves well as
a good functionary invective but it could have been an excellent visionary
instructive criticism. Whether Myers was the man for the job- ? But the Atlantic Monthly should have prodded him or sought
someone else to write a piece on this topic. They should have challenged him
more editorially. Too often all we are left with in criticism is either
asskissing or snide invective. This piece lacks the former but has a bit of the
latter. Yet he does do a good job more often than not, especially in choosing
selections that other critics have raved about.
In the long unfurling of his life, from tight-wound kid
While inside the vaulting of the ribs between his knees
'[They] walked off in separate directions through the It is a
rare passage that can make you look up, wherever you may be, and wonder if you
are being subjected to a diabolically thorough Candid Camera prank. I can just
go along with the idea that horses might mistake human retching for the call of
wild animals. But "wild animals" isn't epic enough: McCarthy must blow
smoke about some rude provisional species, as if your average quadruped had
impeccable table manners and a pension plan. Then he switches from the horses'
perspective to the narrator's, though just what something imperfect and
malformed refers to is unclear. The last half sentence only deepens the
confusion. Is the thing smirking deep in the eyes of grace the same thing that
is lodged in the heart of being? And what is a gorgon doing in a pool? Or is it
peering into it? And why an autumn pool? I doubt if McCarthy can explain any of
this; he probably just likes the way it sounds.
"I want to do whatever's best for you."
"What's best for me is to please you," I said.
"I want to make you happy, Jack."
"I'm happy when I'm pleasing you." 3) The essay's reactions- good & bad: I will
examine a bevy of the charges pro [+] & con [-] Myers' piece &
decipher whether the charge is just- in either direction.
+ London Times' Joanna Coles: "The piece .
. . has infuriated editors and writers alike, not the least because it is
brilliantly written by a young unknown." By the time this essay was
penned the Times piece was not online. However, this is the most widely quoted
blurb that I got from several online sources. A fairly sedate comment that
reflects a good deal of the positive comment. That the piece has caused
infuriation is doubtless; that it is brilliantly written, well- see all
my above comments. & while Myers was unknown, it is a hoot to see a 37 year
old called 'young' in any American venue- I guess that is 1 positive to be
said for American literature.
+ Washington Post's Jonathan Yardley: Yardley's
piece was also not available online at the time this essay was written. But in
researching it online I gleaned some ideas & fragments. 'Yardley
believes that the rise of television and the disappearance of what he calls the
"big middlebrow magazines, like the Saturday Evening Post and
Collier's" have much to do with the state of contemporary literary fiction.
He also blames creative writing schools which "encourage the self-absorbed,
mannered fiction" so despised by Myers.' Yardley is a pretty decent
critic & he may well indeed be right about the middlebrow implosion. He is
right about the latter point. Odd how so many people know the problem yet no one
in a position to change it does anything about it? Hmm….
+ Atlantic Monthly's Benjamin Schwarz, book
editor: 'A Reader's Manifesto struck a chord. A lot of readers out there
felt the same frustrations he did. They felt they had an advocate in him. A lot
of them have called me and the editor in chief of the magazine to tell us how
much they appreciated the piece. The magazine has not heard from any of the
writers targeted by Myers' essay nor any of those writers' editors. But the book
and literary editors of major publications such as the Los Angeles Times and The
Nation magazine did not much care for the piece. And at least one New York Times
book critic has assaulted it.' True enough sentiments, although 1 would
like to have heard a reasoning for the poor editing job the magazine did. A
little more here & there & the piece could have risen above the Molotov
stage & actual had a real effect in the literary world; if not academia then
ion the approach 'pop' book reviewers in magazines & newspapers approach
their jobs.
+ an uncredited AP story on Myers: 'The essay's 10,000
skillfully crafted words - which manage to be searing, humorous and illuminating
all at the same time - were not written by a Big Apple book critic, a
degree-laden academic or a battle-scarred literary lion feeling the need to
roar. They were written by B.R. Myers, the guy with those two big dogs who lives
just off the highway.' Puff-piece alert! Puff-piece alert! - an online piece 'Unfair Sentence: The case for
difficult books' by Meghan O'Rourke: + an online piece 'Plain talk' by Mursi Saad
El-Din: Random online & email postings:
+ 'He made a point of using quotations the New York
Times and Los Angeles Times reviewers had employed to praise the writing he
found ridiculous. He was very entertaining. He sounded like a regular guy who
has absorbed more than bit of Sam Clemens.' Neither Myers nor Clemens are
'regular' guys nor readers. Is there is any humor in the piece?
+ 'Stephen King fans may be interested that he is
cited by Myers as an example of a good writer dismissed as a mere
"storyteller" while less talented but more pretentious writers are
hailed by heavyweight critics who then set about making ordinary readers feel
uncomfortable about not liking their work.' So this is how rumors start-
if 1 reads the piece Myers does not call King a good writer; merely that 1 of
his novels is more intellectual & less pretentious than Guterson's.
+ 'I read about him in a rather superficial article in
todays (London) Times by Joanna Coles, which should be accessible online. This
refers to articles in the Washington Post + 'This essay absolutely floored me! His opinions are
strong, but his supporting arguments compelling (and convincing, at least to
me).' The pro forma response from the masses.
- 'To me, Myers is saying he wants to read a good
story...with the emphasis on story. He wants the language to enhance the story.
I think we all want that. We just all have our own way of making sense of a
story…. The best part of this thread is that I ended up devouring this issue
of Atlantic Monthly. I've never read it before. Is it always this
interesting?' The short answer to the query is NO- the Atlantic Monthly
rarely engages the reader anymore. The other points are valid, & this
rebuttal is far more valid than any of the other attacks on the piece by critics
have been. Unfortunately few are online. The point is that Myers struck a chord-
but all too lightly, & erratically. To pull my own nose for a second [&
I'm allowed since many others have done so- including Myers], Myers would be
well advised to check out www.Cosmoetica.com
for how to write effective essays that stay on target, quote subject matter
well, & rise to a more objective plane, so well beyond mere invective that
the argument cannot be raised by a reasoned rebuttal. To not strive for such
lends even more invective its in, & ultimately defangs one's own
In summing
up, the responses to the article have been in some degree predictable. Certainly
most of the articles I read right after the piece appeared [& unfortunately
did not make record of] were weak invective often aimed at Myers, the man. The
majority of readers, however, know that prose nowadays sucks. The fakers in the
Literati weakly defend hope the
piece will fall of its own weight. & the essay's very weaknesses allows
Myers', the readers', & my- opposition to indeed keep on marching to
their stultifying beat. Perhaps the saddest thing in the AP piece was Myers'
rejection of a post reviewing books. His claim of maintaining 'outsider'
status suggests his role of literary Molotov cocktailist was the point from the
start- after all, power does entail responsibility- & what bombthrower wants
that? 4) The essay's responses' relation to poetry &
summation: The very same
things said in the online responses could be aptly applied to poetry, except
with a lot of it inverted. Most people in poetry- black, white, gay, straight,
Academic, 'outsider', folk in the middle- similarly know that poetry is bad;
in fact in even worse shape than prose. Most know that puff-pieces in magalogs
as Rain Taxi, Ruminator Review, American Poetry Review,
etc., are absolute incestuous pieces of garbage designed to obtain publications
& sinecures within the system. But few recognize that poetry's ills are
the very famine that prose seems to be feasting on. This is why I, & the
other people who have things on www.Cosmoetica.com,
have endeavored to excellence to combat the stupor in both fields of writing-
indeed, in all of art.
... artificial and remote from the language of everyday
affairs as possible. We reproach the eighteenth century
with its artificiality. But the
fact is that Beowulf is
couched in a diction fifty times more complicated and
unnatural than that of [Pope's poem] Essay on Man.
hearers (contrary to the common method then in vogue)
with what they could not understand, some of them took
occasion to entertain very contemptible thoughts of his
learning ... So that one of his Oxford friends, as he
traveled through Childrey, inquiring for his diversion of
some of the people, Who was their minister, and how
they liked him? received this answer: "Our parson is one
Mr. Pococke, a plain honest man. But Master," said
they, "he is no Latiner."'
This is a very poor example for the man to use, especially
since it comes right on the heels of a plea against affectation & obscurity
& for straightforwardness. The point- Myers could have said in 1 or 2
sentences what these 4 paragraphs tell us. But then, he wanted to 'show off'
every bit as much as the writers he criticizes- hardly the tack for a man who
claims to be a mere 'reader'- aside from its hypocrisy it obviates his
of the barn clapboards, paint jawed away by sleet
and driven sand, the unconcerned swallows darting and
reappearing with insects clasped in their beaks looking
like mustaches, the
wind-ripped sky, the blank windows
of the house, the old glass casting blue swirled
reflections at her, the fountains of blood leaping from her
stumped arms, even, in the first moment, hearing the wet
thuds of her forearms against the barn and the bright
sound of the metal striking.
mass had emerged and was struggling toward him. It
loomed steadily, weaving and grotesque like something
seen through bad glass, gained briefly the form and
solidity of a pickup truck, whipped past and receded
into the same liquid shape by which it came.
writers know enough to save this kind of syntax for fast-moving scenes:
"... and his shout of fear came as a bloody gurgle and he died, and Wolff
felt nothing" (Ken Follett, The Key to Rebecca, 1980). In McCarthy's
sentence the unpunctuated flow of
the darkly meated heart pumped of who's will and the
blood pulsed and the bowels shifted in their massive blue
convolutions of who's will and the stout thighbones and
knee and cannon and the tendons like flaxen hawsers
that drew and flexed and drew and flexed at their
of who's will all sheathed and muffled in the
flesh and the hooves that stove wells in the morning
groundmist and the head turning side to side and the
slavering keyboard of his teeth and the hot globes
of his eyes where the world burned. (All the Pretty
Horses, 1992)
elusive at the same time, words that seemed to have a
meaning, part of a verbal spell or ecstatic chant.
name of an automobile. The truth only amazed me more.
The utterance was beautiful and mysterious, gold-shot
with looming wonder. It was like the name of an ancient
power in the sky, tablet-carved in cuneiform ...
Whatever its source, the utterance struck me with the
impact of a moment of splendid transcendence.
not be sure how much time had passed—whether it was
the night of that day or the night of the next. It was even
possible, he thought, that it was not night at all. Perhaps
it was merely dark inside the room, and outside, beyond
the window, the sun was shining. For several moments
he considered getting up and going to the window to
see, but then he decided it did not matter. If it was not
night now, he thought, then night would come later. That
was certain, and whether he looked out the window or
not, the answer would be the same. On the other hand,
if it was in fact night here in New York, then surely the
sun was shining somewhere else. In China, for example,
it was no doubt mid-afternoon, and the rice farmers
were mopping sweat from their brows. Night and day
were no more than relative terms; they did not refer to
an absolute condition. At any given moment it was
both. The only reason we did not know it was
because we could not be in two places at the same time.
(City of Glass, 1985)
plenitude those crowded bags suggested, the weight and
size and number, the familiar package designs and vivid
lettering, the giant sizes, the family bargain packs with
Day-Glo sale stickers, in the sense of replenishment we
felt, the sense of well-being, the security and
contentment these products brought to some snug home
in our souls—it seemed we had achieved a fullness of
being that is not known to people who need less, expect
less, who plan their lives around lonely walks in the
fragments of his corpse were found ... (Leviathan,
it is, however, is completely beyond him. (Ghosts,
spent; he didn't. (Hand to Mouth, 1997)
longings all passed through the money box and came out
as real things, palpable objects you could hold in your
hand. (Hand to Mouth)
tail to the end of his snout, he was a pure example of
Canis familiaris, and whatever divine presence he
might have harbored within his skin, he was first and
foremost the thing he appeared to be. Mr. Bow Wow,
Monsieur Woof Woof, Sir Cur. (Timbuktu)
Dr. Ben Givens did not dream, for his sleep was restless
and visited by phantoms who guarded the portal to the
world of dreams by speaking relentlessly of this world.
They spoke of his wife—now dead—and of his
of silent canyons where he had hunted birds,
of august peaks he had once ascended, of apples newly
plucked from trees, and of vineyards in the foothills of
Apennines. They spoke of rows of campanino
apples near Monte Della Torraccia; they spoke of
cherry trees on river slopes and of pear blossoms in
May sunlight.
follows is a Proulx-style succession of images. By the end of the third
sentence, with its cherry trees, pear blossoms, and still more apples, the
accumulation of pedestrian phrases is supposed to have fooled the reader into
thinking that a lyrical effect has been created. The ruse is painfully obvious
here. Proulx would at least have drawn the line at something as stale as august
peaks—especially in an opening paragraph. (She would also have avoided the
clumsy echo of restless and relentlessly.)'
to her sides. She was among the stragglers and stopped
and walked off the field, laughing and wiping her face
and throat with a handkerchief of the same material as
her silk summer dress. Leventhal was standing near her
brother. She came up to them and said, "Well, I used to
be able to run when I was smaller." That she was still not
accustomed to thinking of herself as a woman, and a
beautiful woman, made Leventhal feel very tender
toward her. She was in his mind when he watched the
contestants in the three-legged race hobbling over the
meadow. He noticed one in particular, a man with red
hair who struggled forward, angry with his partner, as
though the race were a pain and a humiliation which he
could wipe out only by winning. "What a difference,"
Leventhal said to himself. "What a difference in people."
moment he waited there, poised, and kissed her—he
took her lower lip between his lips and gently held it
there. Then with his hands he pulled her to him and at
the same time entered her so that she felt his scrotum
slap against her skin. Her entire body felt the rightness of
it, her entire body was seized to it. Hatsue arched her
shoulder blades—her breasts pressed themselves
against his chest—and a slow shudder ran through her.
understand just now the deepest beauty."
happens, the old American scorn for pretension is bound to reassert itself
someday, and dear God, let it be soon. In the meantime, I'll be reading the
kinds of books that Cormac McCarthy doesn't understand.'
Back to
Myers: another selection & critique: 'The short stories in Close
Range are full of this kind of writing. "The Half-Skinned
Steer" (which first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, in November of
1997), starts with this sentence:
hustler in a wool suit riding the train out of Cheyenne to
geriatric limper in this spooled-out year, Mero had
kicked down thoughts of the place where he began, a
so-called ranch on strange ground at the south hinge of
the Big Horns.
once acknowledged that she tends to "compress" too much into short
stories, but her wordplay is just as relentless in her novels; she seems unaware
that all innovative language derives its impact from the contrast to
straightforward English. It is common to find her devoting more than one
metaphor or simile to the same image. "Furious dabs of tulips stuttering in
gardens." "An apron of sound lapped out of each dive." "The
ice mass leaned as though to admire its reflection in the waves, leaned until
the southern tower was at the angle of a pencil in a writing hand, the northern
tower reared over it like a lover." "The children rushed at Quoyle,
gripped him as a falling man clutches the window ledge, as a stream of electric
particles arcs a gap and completes a circuit." In one brief paragraph in The
Shipping News a man's body is likened to a loaf of bread, his flesh to a
casement, his head to a melon, his facial features to fingertips, his eyes to
the color of plastic, and his chin to a shelf.
This isn't
all bad, of course; the bit about the ice mass admiring its reflection is
effective. And every so often Proulx lets a really good image stand alone:
"The dining room, crowded with men, was lit by red bulbs that gave them a
look of being roasted alive in their chairs." Such hits are so rare,
however, that after a while the reader stops trying to think about what the
metaphors mean. Maybe this is the effect that Proulx is aiming for; she seems to
want to keep us on the surface of the text at all times, as if she were afraid
that we might forget her quirky narratorial presence for even a line or two.'
OK, again I apologize for the lengthy excerption but alot of good points are
made &/or touched upon. Myers really lights into Proulx here- everything
short of changing her surname to Prolix! & his backhanded slap at the
magazine that published his piece is a nice testosteronic touch! But his
selection to rip is poor. The snippet could be very interesting poetry if
enjambed well. Compare this to the straightforwardness in the poems of a Sharon
Olds, David Citino, or any of the aforementioned poetasters. But looks at
Myers' assault on this sentence. While some of the modifiers are repetitive
& could be excised, do they really clash? No. The very length of the
sentence tends to allow enough space for the images to stand on their own. Far
from demanding to be read quickly words as 'long', 'unfurling',
'riding', 'geriatric', 'limper', & 'spooled-out' all suggest
meditativeness- even with only 2 commas. The sentence is not THAT long! Now,
perhaps this extract has the qualities Myers attributes to it if taken in a
longer piece- but then the fault is his for choosing a selection that fails his
own words. 1 senses that there is a touch of animus in this selection's
flaying that has more to do with personal or philosophic motives, than with poor
prose. & the comment on the Big Horns is ridiculous- the word is imagination!
Sorry, B.R., but your commentary here really blows!
But on the
heels of this critical failure Myers' rebounds to make 1 of the most
impressive points in his whole article: 'she seems unaware that all
innovative language derives its impact from the contrast to straightforward
English.' This is an excellent point, & applies to other aspects of
poetry & art in general- the need for contrast, or individuation of the
artist. Question- how easy is it to tell a stanza from Whitman from Yeats? Or
Hart Crane from Sylvia Plath? Question 2- How hard is it to tell a stanza from a
Tory Dent from [name your Sharon Olds-30-year-old-wannabe]? Or a David
Rivard from a David Smith? Or David St. John? Or David Wagoner? Or David Citino?
Or David- see my point? So why is
American poetry so prosaic when by nature it should not be? Perhaps because of
the cycle of like breeding like that Myers points out [see my Pro comment on his
hypocrisy comment on Rick Moody's ascent]? Another point worth touching on, if
briefly in this forum, is that despite what the naysayers say- poetry has always
been chiefly about what happens in the mind, not on the tongue. The tongue is
helped out to recall a verse because of the mindly mnemonic content of the
phrase, image, line, metaphor, etc. Without the mindly content no poem- from
classic epopee to Nuyorican angst- would register with merely sound. Mere sound
in orchestration is music- or chanting. The difference between a chant & a
poem is the intellectual content; just as the difference between poetry &
verse is where the primary pleasure content of the work resides. If it is upon
the tongue it is verse. If it is within the mind it is poetry. & let me
emphasize this, for those who would 1 day damn me in excerption!, please include
this caveat: Generally should be the addendum to the above stated
definitions! This is the most important point, for clearly there are violations
of those statements- works that invert those statements, but more often works
that share equal quantities of the ascribed qualities. Yet, as good a point as
this is- & its relevance to poetry- it really has no import to the selection
because Myers at 1st criticizes Proulx for tirelessly pushing the
envelope- possibly a valid critique- but then somehow, logically, must be
rebuking her for language that does not contrast from straightforward English,
lest why bring up the point? He wants it both ways in his criticism, thereby
negating that criticism. He might argue he faults HOW she pushes the envelope
rather than her pushing it- but it's still a de facto admission that she is
not guilty of his charge of lack of innovation. I.e.- the piece may or may not
be sparkling prose, but its failure is not the reason Myers charges. Better
editorship at the Atlantic would have pointed this out.
return to Myers' Pro point on critical prose clichés. In a sense it's
heartening, I suppose, to know that every prose critics' 'dance and coil,
slither and pounce' has its poetic counterpart in 'illuminates the
big and the small', & 'every single sentence surprises and
delights and just bowls you over' has its 'finest/best/most generous
poet/lyric ear/heart of his/her generation/ethnic group/sex/sexual preference',
yet it is also depressing to know that it does, that Myers' essay makes so
many easily identifiable correct points, & that a piece like his has needed
value. Let us turn to another of the passages I selected as a Pro point: 'Like
Proulx and so many others today, McCarthy relies more on barrages of
hit-and-miss verbiage than on careful use of just the right words.
the darkly meated heart pumped of who's will and the
blood pulsed and the bowels shifted in their massive blue
convolutions of who's will and the stout thighbones and
knee and cannon and the tendons like flaxen hawsers
that drew and flexed and drew and flexed at their
articulations of who's will all sheathed and muffled in the
flesh and the hooves that stove wells in the morning
groundmist and the head turning side to side and the
great slavering keyboard of his teeth and the hot globes
of his eyes where the world burned. (All the Pretty
Horses, 1992)
Myers' next poetry-related excerpt is this; still on
chaparral to stand spraddlelegged clutching their knees
and vomiting. The browsing horses jerked their heads
up. It was no sound they'd ever heard before. In the
gray twilight those retchings seemed to echo like the
calls of some rude provisional species loosed upon that
waste. Something imperfect and malformed lodged in
the heart of being. A thing smirking deep in the eyes of
grace itself like a gorgon in an autumn pool. (All the
Pretty Horses)
novelist with a sense of the ridiculous would write such nonsense.' Well,
aside from the heart of being this is good poetry unenjambed.
& why shouldn't novelists , with whatever sense, write this is the wrong
question. The question should be why don't published poets write such? With a
little more wordplay 1 can easily envision this coming from a latter-day Western
Wallace Stevens. While Myers doesn't go overboard with his damnations, as he
did earlier, one does wonder what there is to damn? The queries Myers poses are
entirely absent from most contemporary poetry. [& trust me, read any of my
prior essays or future essays for many examples of this absence- this is simply
not the crux in this essay]. Most poetry is chopped up prose- the opposite
lament that Myers returns to often in his essay: most prose is unlined wannabe
poetry. Some of Myers' queries are plain silly &, again, barely cover what
is probably the real reason for the attack- whatever that may be! & the last
statement on liking the way something sounds- well, Poe, Dickinson, Stevens,
Marianne Moore, e.e. cummings, & alot of other poets used to make a good
artistic living on such. A good deal of their verse is sound-based. & the
ironic thing is that contemporary poets- Academics & outsiders, those very
champions of 'spoken' word- have so little 'sound' in their drones &
rants. I'd rather see them explain that fact than hear McCarthy defend this
On to another
good poetry-related point Myers unintendedly makes: 'Interspersed with these ruminations we get long conversations of
the who's-on-first? variety. These only highlight the sameness of the
characters' speech. Young and old, male and female, all sound alike.
& a final
point that pertains as well, or more so, to poetry: 'This is what the
cultural elite wants us to believe: if our writers don't make sense, or bore us
to tears, that can only mean that we aren't worthy of them. In July of last year
Bill Goldstein, in The New York Times, wrote an article putting the blame for the
proliferation of unread best sellers on readers who bite off more
"intellectually intimidating" fare than they can chew. Vince Passaro,
writing for Harper's in 1999, attributed the unpopularity of new short fiction
primarily to the fact that it is "smart"—in
contrast (he claimed) to the short stories of Hemingway's day.' Again,
this is almost an exact inversion of poetry's problem. It is so simplistic-
not simple- that anything that does not condescend is elitist- the
current bogeyword of the day! & in the rare cases that a poet tries to be
'deep' the poetry ends up being some surrealistic/abstract/Objectivist/Projectivist/L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E/concrete
hybridized mess that has no meaning- think Thalia Field, Michael Palmer, Susan
Howe, Lyn Hejinian, & others of that leaning. Unless, of course they are of
the Cult of John (Asbery for those out the know!)- but we won't go there- NOW!
In short,
Myers' piece may- in the long run- have more (unintended) relevance to
contemporary poetry than prose. The irony is that this insight comes from a man
who thinks 'T. S. Eliot, a man fascinated by the "presence" of
the past, who wrote the most-innovative poetry of his time.' Alas, alack,
& all that….
says modernism is to blame in that it "values the obscure and the
difficult." Yardley argues a few Masters have produced masterworks but
Modernism has mostly produced third-rate imitations, acclaimed by critics
fearful of not goosestepping with the "illuminati."' His 1st
point is valid, but his inductive reasoning is poor & too generalized-
besides, he may be being misquoted. His 2nd point is dead on &
really explains the New Critics as concisely as 1 can.
really just an average reader," said Myers, who fears the fact that he
reads German, Korean, Chinese and Russian as well as English might make people
believe otherwise....Myers was educated in Germany. He has a master's degree
from Ruhr University in Bochum and a doctorate from the University of Tuebingen.
He includes among his inspirations the German author Karlheinz Deschner, whose
1957 book, "Kitsch, Convention and Art," roused an uproar in Germany
because it attacked the work of popular German poet and novelist Hermann Hesse.
Myers' specialty, however, is North Korean studies. He is the author of a 1994
book titled "Han Sorya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of
Socialist Realism in DPRK." And right now, he is working on a deal that
would send him to South Korea soon to teach university students in that
country how to study North Korean literature.' Puff-piece proof!
Puff-piece proof! That the writer does not question Myers' claim in light of
what follows is certainly a chuckler. But then- it is a puff piece, & the
info does lend a little insight in to the essay- especially Myers' fondness
for the Classics.
have always admired straight-talkers," he said during the interview at his
home. "But by the time American scorn for pretentiousness reasserts itself,
no one may be reading novels anymore."' Myers is obviously building a
rationale for the attacks- warranted & not- to come on his piece. His
Apocalypticism is a bit hysterical, but in keeping with the Molotovian tenor of
his essay!
there's nothing easier to fight over than books, because taste is subjective.
The latest poker in the fire is a piece in the current issue of the Atlantic
'At this
point, French critics are more excited than their American counterparts by Paul
Auster. David Guterson's reputation is based on one hit novel; his second was
mostly regarded as a disappointment. White Noise was published 16 years ago. All
of this makes Myers' essay seem crudely off target.' Gotta love the zany French, but Myers' point seems to be in questioning
why Guterson's 1st novel was the thing that anointed him in the 1st
place- no? The fact that he takes on a 16 year old novel is in perfect keeping
with the essay's thrust. Myers' point is that it's taken a while for prose
to get to this state. In fact, others have rightfully detracted that his 2
'good' examples of prose are both decades old. Ms. O'Rourke seems to want
to pick nits that are on her own form, not Myers'.
real frustration isn't with the writers but with the reviewers who laud them. At
the heart of his complaints is a buried anxiety about cultural elitism, a
peculiarly American distrust of showiness and artiness.' This is a good
O'Rourke's broadside at Myers. While decrying the 'elitism' of the
avant-garde he quite often wraps himself in the elitism of the rear guard of
American letters- read: Dead, White, & Male! Wish Megan had completed this
pointed barb, though!
jeremiad has met with an overwhelming response from readers who are relieved to
find that they're not philistines, even though they failed to finish
Underworld or Infinite Jest. (The irony, of course, is that they feel
they're not philistines only because a critic in a glossy literary magazine has
reassured them they're not.) Of course they're not. But the danger of Myers'
irritation is self-evident: It implies we needn't ever challenge ourselves as
readers. It wants a literature of lucidity and leaves little room for mystery.'
Some more good points! The public is generally of the herd mentality. So is the
professorate, & the critics. Myers does well to point this out. O'Rourke
does even better to point out the Philistines' own weak will- &, YES, to
not admit the bulk of Americana is Philistine is to engage in a naïve sort of
flag-waving. But, equally true, is that we are probably the most well-rounded
Philistines in world history! The last point is a very good one, although it
would be hard to truly hold Myers to its accusation. He merely wants narrative,
rather than structural mystery.
nonetheless raises (if indirectly) a genuine point about reviewing: Many critics
foreground the importance of "craft," vaguely praising a novel for its
"evocative" or "compelling" prose. Their faces are so
closely pressed against the window that they see more of the glass than what
lies beyond it. There are some obvious reasons for this. First, both novels and
their reviews are often written by people who have taught (or been taught)
creative writing, much of which centers on a discussion of craft. After all, you
can teach an aspiring writer how to construct a sentence, but it's harder to
teach imagination, or how to invest fiction with intrinsic intelligence or
useful social observation, or something as elusive as emotional truth. Reviewers
tend to judge a book on its own terms, and sensibly so. It's unfair (and fairly
useless) to fault Raymond Carver for not being Donald Barthelme, or vice versa.
Still, reviewers sometimes don't tell readers what to expect or explain that a
book's primary pleasure is linguistic rather than narrative, for example.'
She fully explains what Myers left as an assumed point in his piece. Her comment
on reviewers' failings is also apt.
'No one
wants to slam a first novelist or even a mediocre book. Especially when it's not
immediately apparent how a reviewer ought to handle the question of taste:
Unlike nonfiction reviewers, fiction critics have few objective criteria (such
as quality of research, scope of argument) upon which to base their assessments.
All this contributes to what Dwight Garner aptly called "literary grade
inflation."' Here O'Rourke tips her own bias to the reader, &
repeats the fallacies of subjectivity that Myers' rails against. The question
left unasked is: Why does no one want to slam a 1st novelist or
mediocre book? The answer lies in the same pile of manure that she touches on in
her prior quote- the incest of academia. Her point, however, on literary grade
inflation is a valid one.
take a look at an earlier time, one that Myers is nostalgic for. In 1900, both
Sister Carrie and Lord Jim were published. Both received critical
attention, and neither was a best seller (although, to be fair, there's a
Byzantine story behind the initial publication of Sister Carrie). What
were the best-selling novels that year? Unleavened Bread and Red
Pottage and When Knighthood Was in Flower. Myers' idea of a happier
cultural moment, when best sellers received serious critical attention, is a
sentimental lament for an imagined past….' O'Rourke rips Myers where
he's most vulnerable- his own apparent elitism of the Golden Age.
O'Rourke offers a good retort, yet 1 senses her biases are even more manifest
than Myers'.
'I find
myself in complete agreement with Mr Myers, especially when he criticises a
contemporary writer in favour among reviewers and literary prize-givers for a
"weakness for facetious displays of erudition" and another who
"thinks it more important to sound literary than to make sense."'
El-Din obviously does not get 1 of the major points Myers made, regardless of
his admiration for the essay's points; & that is that Myers does not
pussyfoot around- he names names & purposely selects praise passages from
other critics. This may account for a degree of Myers' own poor selections- in
his defense. In contrast, El-Din not only does not name names, but he won't
even name the names Myers names! Obviously this is an example of agreeing with
something for the wrong reason.
The balance
between those who yearn for an eternal Golden Age- often just passed- &
those who are willing to declare any old era such gilted times is exceedingly
razored. Its sides are steep & detailed & sustained analyses are always
sought: the gap between good & bad prose is far smaller than between good
& bad poetry. This is the nature of the 2 animals. Also, the incestuous
chasm between the haves & have nots in prose is not as yawning as in poetry.
But my view is that much of Myers' welcome piece applies even more so [in
spirit] to the poetry world. That he so often relates points to poetry is very
interesting, although he does so in ways that reveal he has no real
understanding of the art nor its history. [Example: 'It has become
fashionable, especially among female novelists, to exploit the license of poetry
while claiming exemption from poetry's rigorous standards of precision and
polish.' B.R.- unfortunately that has not been true for decades- another
point for critics to rightly nail you on your yore-tinged yearns!]
all have our biases, including me. The measure of a critic is trifold- 1)
ability to discern the subject, 2) ability to convey it (writing or appearance),
& 3) ability to rise above individual biases. Myers vacillates wildly in
these degrees. That his solidly written piece, whose major flaw- in fairness- is
really just inconsistency in thought, logic & peeves [although I guess
that's why a peeve is], has provoked such obvious [yet rarely uttered] replies
bespeaks the desire for an informed, relentless, & steady assault on the
feeble monarchs of Literaria. That the man chose to hurl a Molotov cocktail is
good. That that is all he chose to do is not. That he chose to not stay &
fight is even more distressing, if not telling of his, & the Atlantic
Monthly's, real aims. But if Myers' piece inspires more hard-edged
writing- in general & more hard-edged than his- its values will far outweigh
its demerits. But a note to the next would be terrorist- literary or real-
what's the point if you end up taking out yourself as well?
The very same
things said in the online responses could be aptly applied to poetry, except
with a lot of it inverted. Most people in poetry- black, white, gay, straight,
Academic, 'outsider', folk in the middle- similarly know that poetry is bad;
in fact in even worse shape than prose. Most know that puff-pieces in magalogs
as Rain Taxi, Ruminator Review, American Poetry Review,
etc., are absolute incestuous pieces of garbage designed to obtain publications
& sinecures within the system. But few recognize that poetry's ills are
the very famine that prose seems to be feasting on. This is why I, & the
other people who have things on www.Cosmoetica.com,
have endeavored to excellence to combat the stupor in both fields of writing-
indeed, in all of art.
The balance
between those who yearn for an eternal Golden Age- often just passed- &
those who are willing to declare any old era such gilted times is exceedingly
razored. Its sides are steep & detailed & sustained analyses are always
sought: the gap between good & bad prose is far smaller than between good
& bad poetry. This is the nature of the 2 animals. Also, the incestuous
chasm between the haves & have nots in prose is not as yawning as in poetry.
But my view is that much of Myers' welcome piece applies even more so [in
spirit] to the poetry world. That he so often relates points to poetry is very
interesting, although he does so in ways that reveal he has no real
understanding of the art nor its history. [Example: 'It has become
fashionable, especially among female novelists, to exploit the license of poetry
while claiming exemption from poetry's rigorous standards of precision and
polish.' B.R.- unfortunately that has not been true for decades- another
point for critics to rightly nail you on your yore-tinged yearns!]
all have our biases, including me. The measure of a critic is trifold- 1)
ability to discern the subject, 2) ability to convey it (writing or appearance),
& 3) ability to rise above individual biases. Myers vacillates wildly in
these degrees. That his solidly written piece, whose major flaw- in fairness- is
really just inconsistency in thought, logic & peeves [although I guess
that's why a peeve is], has provoked such obvious [yet rarely uttered] replies
bespeaks the desire for an informed, relentless, & steady assault on the
feeble monarchs of Literaria. That the man chose to hurl a Molotov cocktail is
good. That that is all he chose to do is not. That he chose to not stay &
fight is even more distressing, if not telling of his, & the Atlantic
Monthly's, real aims. But if Myers' piece inspires more hard-edged
writing- in general & more hard-edged than his- its values will far outweigh
its demerits. But a note to the next would be terrorist- literary or real-
what's the point if you end up taking out yourself as well?
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text: SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI), the leading provider of automotive technician training, announced today that its board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend on UTI common stock of $0.10 per share, payable on March 31, 2014, to common stockholders of record as of March 17, 2014. About Universal Technical Institute, Inc.Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI) is the leading provider of post-secondary education for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians. With more than 170,000 graduates in its 48-year history, UTI offers undergraduate degree, diploma and certificate programs at 11 campuses across the United States, as well as manufacturer-specific training programs at dedicated training centers. Through its campus-based school system, UTI provides specialized post-secondary education programs under the banner of several well-known brands, including Universal Technical Institute (UTI), Motorcycle Mechanics Institute and Marine Mechanics Institute (MMI) and NASCAR Technical Institute (NASCAR Tech). For more information visit www.uti.edu. SOURCE Universal Technical Institute, Inc.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Kurb Promotions Blog
our music and artist promotions blog @ MUSIC. MARKETING. MANAGEMENT
Kurb Promotions based in Auckland New Zealand provides promotions services such as discount CD/DVD copying, printing services including design and distribution, and online marketing.
Our aim is to provide the most affordable services for small to medium sized projects while being fully responsive to customer requirements. We will make your promotions or production jobs - whether on disc, on the street, or online - cheap, fast and easy.


text:
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2 Responses to "Patriot Memory Sale At BuyDig.com"
zev Says:
1I wonder why you emailed this linky today, this seems to work only for purchases made until yesterday….
Reply -
mark Says:
264gb (fast) memory card is nice for the price. the 64gb flash drive is great value too. thanks for the post.


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oh well i nearly had an ultima spell i am right near it but i forgot one thing i need four lv.4 spheres to obtain it damn just my luck i was trying to find it for ages and then somehow wakka mysteriously came across it one day.... can some one please give me some way that i can get 4 level 4 spheres please fast i am too impatient to wait i need to level up wakka more i need to know fast...........
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text:
Get Wet Challenge - Ye Olde Swimmin' Hole
Uploaded by Sherry Lynn, Jul 30 2012 06:44 PM
- Owner:
- Uploaded: Jul 30 2012 06:44 PM
- Taken: 2012:07:30 18:55:41
- Views: 341
- Category: Scrap Girls Summer Games
I used the following:
ScrapSimple Digital Layout Templates: Tattered by Amanda Sok Fraijo-Tobin
Blossom Hill Collection Mini AND ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Scattered Pictures 2 by Syndee Nuckles
Waters Edge Collection by Angela Blanchard
The Bee's Knees Collection Biggie AND Back Porch Collection Biggie by Brandy Murry
They sure look like they are enjoying the o' swimmin' hole! Cute pictures, and I love the idea of the geese on the outside looking in.
Looks like the kids are having a great time. I like your colors & all the papers. Nice arrangement of the photos, too.
Our dogs used to love swimming in the local river, what a mess they got into. Love your photos and the arrangement, I also love your layers of paper.
It looks like the new family members just fit right in. It's lovely to see them enjoy the water. Great layout.
Cute photos and layout SHerry...


text:
Shop by Dress Style
Don't Miss Out On The Great Discounts At Jacques Vert Today!
Deep Pink Coloured Mother of the Bride Outfits and Dresses
Wedding Outfits in Deep Pink are Perfect For Any Winter Wedding
If you're attending a special wedding then a deep pink outfit will really help you to stand out from the crowd. With so many dresses, suits and accessories to choose from you'll be spoilt for choice.
Here Are Our Favourite Deep Pink Mother Of The Bride Outfits


text:
Python-Markdown includes an API for extension writers to plug their own custom functionality and/or syntax into the parser. There are Preprocessors which allow you to alter the source before it is passed to the parser, inline patterns which allow you to add, remove or override the syntax of any inline elements, and Postprocessors which allow munging of the output of the parser before it is returned. If you really want to dive in, there are also Blockprocessors which are part of the core BlockParser.
As the parser builds an ElementTree object which is later rendered as Unicode text, there are also some helpers provided to ease manipulation of the tree. Each part of the API is discussed in its respective section below. Additionally, reading the source of some Available Extensions may be helpful. For example, the Footnotes extension uses most of the features documented here.
Preprocessors munge the source text before it is passed into the Markdown core. This is an excellent place to clean up bad syntax, extract things the parser may otherwise choke on and perhaps even store it for later retrieval.
Preprocessors should inherit from markdown.preprocessors.Preprocessor
implement a run
method with one argument lines
. The run
method of
each Preprocessor will be passed the entire source text as a list of Unicode
strings. Each string will contain one line of text. The run
method should
return either that list, or an altered list of Unicode strings.
A pseudo example:
from markdown.preprocessors import Preprocessor
class MyPreprocessor(Preprocessor):
def run(self, lines):
new_lines = []
for line in lines:
m = MYREGEX.match(line)
if m:
# do stuff
return new_lines
Inline Patterns implement the inline HTML element syntax for Markdown such as
or [links](http://example.com)
. Pattern objects should be
instances of classes that inherit from markdown.inlinepatterns.Pattern
one of its children. Each pattern object uses a single regular expression and
must have the following methods:
Returns a compiled regular expression.
Accepts a match object and returns an ElementTree element of a plain Unicode string.
Note that any regular expression returned by getCompiledRegExp
must capture
the whole block. Therefore, they should all start with r'^(.*?)'
and end
with r'(.*?)!'
. When using the default getCompiledRegExp()
provided in the Pattern
you can pass in a regular expression without that
and getCompiledRegExp
will wrap your expression for you and set the
and re.UNICODE
flags. This means that the first group of your
match will be m.group(2)
as m.group(1)
will match everything before the
For an example, consider this simplified emphasis pattern:
from markdown.inlinepatterns import Pattern
from markdown.util import etree
class EmphasisPattern(Pattern):
def handleMatch(self, m):
el = etree.Element('em')
el.text = m.group(3)
return el
As discussed in Integrating Your Code Into Markdown, an instance of this class will need to be provided to Markdown. That instance would be created like so:
# an oversimplified regex
MYPATTERN = r'\*([^*]+)\*'
# pass in pattern and create instance
emphasis = EmphasisPattern(MYPATTERN)
Actually it would not be necessary to create that pattern (and not just because
a more sophisticated emphasis pattern already exists in Markdown). The fact is,
that example pattern is not very DRY. A pattern for **strong**
text would
be almost identical, with the exception that it would create a 'strong' element.
Therefore, Markdown provides a number of generic pattern classes that can
provide some common functionality. For example, both emphasis and strong are
implemented with separate instances of the SimpleTagPattern
listed below.
Feel free to use or extend any of the Pattern classes found at
Generic Pattern Classes
Returns simple text of group(2)
of a pattern
SimpleTagPattern(pattern, tag)
Returns an element of type "tag
" with a text attribute of group(3)
of a pattern
. tag
should be a string of a HTML element (i.e.: 'em').
SubstituteTagPattern(pattern, tag)
Returns an element of type "tag
" with no children or text (i.e.: br
There may be other Pattern classes in the Markdown source that you could extend or use as well. Read through the source and see if there is anything you can use. You might even get a few ideas for different approaches to your specific situation.
Treeprocessors manipulate an ElementTree object after it has passed through the core BlockParser. This is where additional manipulation of the tree takes place. Additionally, the InlineProcessor is a Treeprocessor which steps through the tree and runs the Inline Patterns on the text of each Element in the tree.
A Treeprocessor should inherit from markdown.treeprocessors.Treeprocessor
over-ride the run
method which takes one argument root
(an ElementTree
object) and either modifies that root element and returns None
or returns a
new ElementTree object.
A pseudo example:
from markdown.treeprocessors import Treeprocessor
class MyTreeprocessor(Treeprocessor):
def run(self, root):
root.text = 'modified content'
Note that Python class methods return None
by default when no return
statement is defined. Additionally all Python variables refer to objects by
reference. Therefore, the above run
method modifies the root
in place and returns None
. The changes made to the root
element and its
children are retained.
Some may be inclined to return the modified root
element. While that would
work, it would cause a copy of the entire ElementTree to be generated each
time the Treeprocessor is run. Therefore, it is generally expected that
the run
method would only return None
or a new ElementTree object.
For specifics on manipulating the ElementTree, see Working with the ElementTree below.
Postprocessors manipulate the document after the ElementTree has been serialized into a string. Postprocessors should be used to work with the text just before output.
A Postprocessor should inherit from markdown.postprocessors.Postprocessor
and over-ride the run
method which takes one argument text
and returns
a Unicode string.
Postprocessors are run after the ElementTree has been serialized back into Unicode text. For example, this may be an appropriate place to add a table of contents to a document:
from markdown.postprocessors import Postprocessor
class TocPostprocessor(Postprocessor):
def run(self, text):
return MYMARKERRE.sub(MyToc, text)
Sometimes, Preprocessors, Treeprocessors, Postprocessors, and Inline Patterns
are not going to do what you need. Perhaps you want a new type of block type
that needs to be integrated into the core parsing. In such a situation, you can
add/change/remove functionality of the core BlockParser
. The BlockParser is
composed of a number of Blockprocessors. The BlockParser steps through each
block of text (split by blank lines) and passes each block to the appropriate
Blockprocessor. That Blockprocessor parses the block and adds it to the
ElementTree. The
Definition Lists extension would be a good example of an extension that
adds/modifies Blockprocessors.
A Blockprocessor should inherit from markdown.blockprocessors.BlockProcessor
and implement both the test
and run
The test
method is used by BlockParser to identify the type of block.
Therefore the test
method must return a Boolean value. If the test returns
, then the BlockParser will call that Blockprocessor's run
If it returns False
, the BlockParser will move on to the next
The test
method takes two arguments:
: The parent ElementTree Element of the block. This can be useful
as the block may need to be treated differently if it is inside a list, for
: A string of the current block of text. The test may be a
simple string method (such as block.startswith(some_text)
) or a complex
regular expression.
The run
method takes two arguments:
: A pointer to the parent ElementTree Element of the block. The run
method will most likely attach additional nodes to this parent. Note that
nothing is returned by the method. The ElementTree object is altered in place.
: A list of all remaining blocks of the document. Your run
method must remove (pop) the first block from the list (which it altered in
place - not returned) and parse that block. You may find that a block of text
legitimately contains multiple block types. Therefore, after processing the
first type, your processor can insert the remaining text into the beginning
of the blocks
list for future parsing.
Please be aware that a single block can span multiple text blocks. For example,
The official Markdown syntax rules state that a blank line does not end a
Code Block. If the next block of text is also indented, then it is part of
the previous block. Therefore, the BlockParser was specifically designed to
address these types of situations. If you notice the CodeBlockProcessor
in the core, you will note that it checks the last child of the parent
If the last child is a code block (
...

), then it
appends that block to the previous code block rather than creating a new
code block.
Each Blockprocessor has the following utility methods available:
Returns the last child of the given ElementTree Element or None
if it
had no children.
Removes one level of indent (four spaces by default) from the front of each line of the given text string.
looseDetab(text, level)
Removes "level" levels of indent (defaults to 1) from the front of each line of the given text string. However, this methods allows secondary lines to not be indented as does some parts of the Markdown syntax.
Each Blockprocessor also has a pointer to the containing BlockParser instance at
, which can be used to check or alter the state of the parser.
The BlockParser tracks it's state in a stack at parser.state
. The state
stack is an instance of the State
is a subclass of list
and has the additional methods:
Set a new state to string state
. The new state is appended to the end
of the stack.
Step back one step in the stack. The last state at the end is removed from the stack.
Test that the top (current) level of the stack is of the given string
Note that to ensure that the state stack does not become corrupted, each time a state is set for a block, that state must be reset when the parser finishes parsing that block.
An instance of the BlockParser
is found at Markdown.parser
has the following methods:
Given a list of lines, an ElementTree object is returned. This should be
passed an entire document and is the only method the Markdown
calls directly.
parseChunk(parent, text)
Parses a chunk of markdown text composed of multiple blocks and attaches
those blocks to the parent
Element. The parent
is altered in place
and nothing is returned. Extensions would most likely use this method for
block parsing.
parseBlocks(parent, blocks)
Parses a list of blocks of text and attaches those blocks to the parent
Element. The parent
is altered in place and nothing is returned. This
method will generally only be used internally to recursively parse nested
blocks of text.
While is is not recommended, an extension could subclass or completely replace
the BlockParser
. The new class would have to provide the same public API.
However, be aware that other extensions may expect the core parser provided
and will not work with such a drastically different parser.
As mentioned, the Markdown parser converts a source document to an ElementTree object before serializing that back to Unicode text. Markdown has provided some helpers to ease that manipulation within the context of the Markdown module.
First, to get access to the ElementTree module import ElementTree from
rather than importing it directly. This will ensure you are using
the same version of ElementTree as markdown. The module is found at
within Markdown.
from markdown.util import etree
tries to import ElementTree from any known location,
first as a standard library module (from xml.etree
in Python 2.5), then as
a third party package (ElementTree). In each instance, cElementTree
tried first, then ElementTree if the faster C implementation is not
available on your system.
Sometimes you may want text inserted into an element to be parsed by
Inline Patterns. In such a situation, simply insert the text as you normally
would and the text will be automatically run through the Inline Patterns.
However, if you do not want some text to be parsed by Inline Patterns,
then insert the text as an AtomicString
from markdown.util import AtomicString
some_element.text = AtomicString(some_text)
Here's a basic example which creates an HTML table (note that the contents of
the second cell (td2
) will be run through Inline Patterns latter):
table = etree.Element("table")
table.set("cellpadding", "2") # Set cellpadding to 2
tr = etree.SubElement(table, "tr") # Add child tr to table
td1 = etree.SubElement(tr, "td") # Add child td1 to tr
td1.text = markdown.util.AtomicString("Cell content") # Add plain text content
td2 = etree.SubElement(tr, "td") # Add second td to tr
td2.text = "*text* with **inline** formatting." # Add markup text
table.tail = "Text after table" # Add text after table
You can also manipulate an existing tree. Consider the following example which
adds a class
attribute to
def set_link_class(self, element):
for child in element:
if child.tag == "a":
child.set("class", "myclass") #set the class attribute
set_link_class(child) # run recursively on children
For more information about working with ElementTree see the ElementTree Documentation (Python Docs).
Once you have the various pieces of your extension built, you need to tell
Markdown about them and ensure that they are run in the proper sequence.
Markdown accepts an Extension
instance for each extension. Therefore, you
will need to define a class that extends markdown.extensions.Extension
over-rides the extendMarkdown
method. Within this class you will manage
configuration options for your extension and attach the various processors and
patterns to the Markdown instance.
It is important to note that the order of the various processors and patterns
matters. For example, if we replace http://...
links with
and then try to deal with inline HTML, we will end up with a mess.
Therefore, the various types of processors and patterns are stored within an
instance of the Markdown class in OrderedDicts. Your Extension
will need to manipulate those OrderedDicts appropriately. You may insert
instances of your processors and patterns into the appropriate location in an
OrderedDict, remove a built-in instance, or replace a built-in instance with
your own.
¶The extendMarkdown
method of a markdown.extensions.Extension
accepts two arguments:
A pointer to the instance of the Markdown class. You should use this to access the OrderedDicts of processors and patterns. They are found under the following attributes:
Some other things you may want to access in the markdown instance are:
Contains all the various global variables within the markdown module.
With access to the above items, theoretically you have the option to change anything through various monkey_patching techniques. However, you should be aware that the various undocumented parts of markdown may change without notice and your monkey_patches may break with a new release. Therefore, what you really should be doing is inserting processors and patterns into the markdown pipeline. Consider yourself warned!
A simple example:
from markdown.extensions import Extension
class MyExtension(Extension):
def extendMarkdown(self, md, md_globals):
# Insert instance of 'mypattern' before 'references' pattern
md.inlinePatterns.add('mypattern', MyPattern(md), '<references')
An OrderedDict is a dictionary like object that retains the order of it's items. The items are ordered in the order in which they were appended to the OrderedDict. However, an item can also be inserted into the OrderedDict in a specific location in relation to the existing items.
Think of OrderedDict as a combination of a list and a dictionary as it has
methods common to both. For example, you can get and set items using the
od[key] = value
syntax and the methods keys()
, values()
, and
work as expected with the keys, values and items returned in the
proper order. At the same time, you can use insert()
, append()
, and
as you would with a list.
Generally speaking, within Markdown extensions you will be using the special
helper method add()
to add additional items to an existing OrderedDict.
The add()
method accepts three arguments:
: A string. The key is used for later reference to the item.
: The object instance stored in this item.
: Optional. The items location in relation to other items.
Note that the location can consist of a few different values:
The special strings "_begin"
and "_end"
insert that item at the
beginning or end of the OrderedDict respectively.
A less-than sign (<
) followed by an existing key (i.e.:
) inserts that item before the existing key.
A greater-than sign (>
) followed by an existing key (i.e.:
) inserts that item after the existing key.
Consider the following example:
>>> from markdown.odict import OrderedDict
>>> od = OrderedDict()
>>> od['one'] = 1 # The same as: od.add('one', 1, '_begin')
>>> od['three'] = 3 # The same as: od.add('three', 3, '>one')
>>> od['four'] = 4 # The same as: od.add('four', 4, '_end')
>>> od.items()
[("one", 1), ("three", 3), ("four", 4)]
Note that when building an OrderedDict in order, the extra features of the
method offer no real value and are not necessary. However, when
manipulating an existing OrderedDict, add
can be very helpful. So let's
insert another item into the OrderedDict.
>>> od.add('two', 2, '>one') # Insert after 'one'
>>> od.values()
[1, 2, 3, 4]
Now let's insert another item.
>>> od.add('two-point-five', 2.5, '<three') # Insert before 'three'
>>> od.keys()
["one", "two", "two-point-five", "three", "four"]
Note that we also could have set the location of "two-point-five" to be 'after two'
(i.e.: '>two'
). However, it's unlikely that you will have control over the
order in which extensions will be loaded, and this could affect the final
sorted order of an OrderedDict. For example, suppose an extension adding
"two-point-five" in the above examples was loaded before a separate extension
which adds 'two'. You may need to take this into consideration when adding your
extension components to the various markdown OrderedDicts.
Once an OrderedDict is created, the items are available via key:
MyNode = od['somekey']
Therefore, to delete an existing item:
del od['somekey']
To change the value of an existing item (leaving location unchanged):
od['somekey'] = MyNewObject()
To change the location of an existing item:
t.link('somekey', '<otherkey')
Some extensions may need to have their state reset between multiple runs of the Markdown class. For example, consider the following use of the Footnotes extension:
md = markdown.Markdown(extensions=['footnotes'])
html1 = md.convert(text_with_footnote)
html2 = md.convert(text_without_footnote)
Without calling reset
, the footnote definitions from the first document will
be inserted into the second document as they are still stored within the class
instance. Therefore the Extension
class needs to define a reset
that will reset the state of the extension (i.e.: self.footnotes = {}
However, as many extensions do not have a need for reset
, reset
is only
called on extensions that are registered.
To register an extension, call md.registerExtension
from within your
def extendMarkdown(self, md, md_globals):
# insert processors and patterns here
Then, each time reset
is called on the Markdown instance, the reset
method of each registered extension will be called as well. You should also
note that reset
will be called on each registered extension after it is
initialized the first time. Keep that in mind when over-riding the extension's
If an extension uses any parameters that the user may want to change,
those parameters should be stored in self.config
of your
class in the following format:
class MyExtension(markdown.extensions.Extension):
def __init__(self, **kwargs):
self.config = {'option1' : ['value1', 'description1'],
'option2' : ['value2', 'description2'] }
super(MyExtension, self).__init__(**kwargs)
When implemented this way the configuration parameters can be over-ridden at
run time (thus the call to super
). For example:
markdown.Markdown(extensions=[MyExtension(option1='other value'])
Note that if a keyword is passed in that is not already defined in
, then a KeyError
is raised.
The markdown.extensions.Extension
class and its subclasses have the
following methods available to assist in working with configuration settings:
getConfig(key [, default])
Returns the stored value for the given key
or default
if the key
does not exist. If not set, default
returns an empty string.
Returns a dict of all key/value pairs.
Returns all configuration descriptions as a list of tuples.
setConfig(key, value)
Sets a configuration setting for key
with the given value
. If key
unknown, a KeyError
is raised. If the previous value of key
a Boolean value, then value
is converted to a Boolean value. If
the previous value of key
is None
, then value
is converted to
a Boolean value except when it is None
. No conversion takes place
when the previous value of key
is a string.
Sets multiple configuration settings given a dict of key/value pairs.
¶As noted in the library reference an instance of an extension can be passed directly to Markdown. In fact, this is the preferred way to use third-party extensions.
For example:
import markdown
import myextension
myext = myextension.MyExtension(option='value')
md = markdown.Markdown(extensions=[myext])
Markdown also accepts "named" third party extensions for those occasions when it is impractical to import an extension directly (from the command line or from within templates).
The "name" of your extension must be a string consisting of the importable path to
your module using Python's dot notation. Therefore, if you are providing a library
to your users and would like to include a custom markdown extension within your
library, that extension would be named "mylib.mdext.myext"
where mylib/mdext/myext.py
contains the extension and the mylib
directory is on the PYTHONPATH.
The string can also include the name of the class separated by a colon. Therefore, if you were to import the class like this:
from path.to.module import SomeExtensionClass
Then the named extension would comprise this string:
You do not need to do anything special to support this feature. As long as your extension class is able to be imported, a user can include it with the above syntax.
The above two methods are especially useful if you need to implement a large number of
extensions with more than one residing in a module. However, if you do not want to require
that your users include the class name in their string, you must define only one extension
per module and that module must contain a module-level function called makeExtension
that accepts **kwargs
and returns an extension instance.
For example:
class MyExtension(markdown.extensions.Extension)
# Define extension here...
def makeExtension(**kwargs):
return MyExtension(**kwargs)
When Markdown is passed the "name" of your extension as a dot notation string, it will import
the module and call the makeExtension
function to initiate your extension.


text:
Mark you walls with your most favorite letter by hanging one of these intricate floral initials in your home. Better yet, wrap one up and give it your most favorite person as an unforgettable gift. Each letter is cut from pure white paper and mounted on colored craft paper to create a kind of shadow box effect.
- Please specify which initail you need when making your order
- Shipped in a sturdy mailer
- Frame not included
- Finished product measures 5.5" x 5.5"
This product ships from the maker within
7 days, via USPS
If you're not happy with this item for any reason, you may return it for a full refund within 30 days.


text:
Games | Play free online games! |
Fashion Store
>Goodgame Fashion
Goodgame Fashion
Play with your own profile by registering yourself for this fun game. You can also play as guest, but your scores and account will not be saved then.
User name / E-mail address...Password...Forgot password?
Not all required fields were filled in
User unknown
Goodgame Fashion
What do you think of this game?
Score: - (0 votes)
You are the manager from a fashionshop. Help your customers and make sure they are happy.Controls
play |


text:
Discussion Forum
This forum does not allow guest posting. You must register to participate in this forum.
Messages ordered by earliest posts first
All times are GMT
All times are GMT
Forum Home / General Discussion / Mrs Sloane predicts.......
[This topic is LOCKED]
Author | Message | ||
armfeetandtoe Writer Location: West Sussex Registered: 11 Jun 10 Forum Profile Writer's Profile |
I shall ave a look in the crystal dome of life an give yu todays reading. If there is anyone that would like to ave their future told, please ask......
I sees a large fing that looks like a football grarnd, it as many people in it, I fink it will be the olympics comin to london very soon......Wait, there is more....is someone art an abart that as the name Inch? He will become a great man wiv lots of people followin him, abart hundred an eighty farsand I would say....hes fadin, gawn....I'm feelin right cream crackered now, so hope it. Mrs Sloane Villiers Street London |
You aint seen me.....right | |||
Lynton Writer Location: Paris Registered: 14 Oct 09 Forum Profile |
Do you need entertaining Mr. Sloan?
Yours B. Reade Actress (dec'd) |
Watching paint dry | |||
armfeetandtoe Writer Location: West Sussex Registered: 11 Jun 10 Forum Profile Writer's Profile |
Dont talk to me abart that drunkin layabart! He's gawn darn the rubba dub wiv that tart Rosa Lee, ooh the bleedin hell does she fink she is? a claryvorient! Hoower! thats wot she is, a hoower! an dont I knows it. Anyways, cross me and wiv silver lovey an I will do you a readin.
Mrs Sloane. |
You aint seen me.....right |
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text:
Duke Lives!
In 1974, the year Duke Ellington died, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts was born in Washington, D.C. Over 90 percent of the graduates go on to college and beyond. Alumni are in movies, on stages, in the American Ballet Theater, and on the professional jazz scene.
This public school's dropout rate is less than 1 percent. As one of its teachers, Davey Yarborough, says, "To me, it is not acceptable to lose even one."
Some 60 percent of the students come from the poorest sections of the District of Columbia. The poverty I've seen on some of those streets equals that of rural Maine and Appalachia. Writers on education should spend some time at the Ellington School of the Arts to learn how teachers can enable kids including those with severe personal problems to realize their capacities.
In the May 24, 1998, Washington Post, Marcia Slacum Greene focused on one of those teachers 44-year-old Yarborough. He is director of the jazz studies program, including the jazz orchestra, the New Washingtonians. (In the early 1920s, Ellington headed a group called the Washingtonians.)
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Yarborough an accomplished saxophonist, flutist, and vocalist is also an arranger and composer. He has played with Joe Williams, Roy Hargrove, and Sonny Stitt, among others. Although he still plays gigs, he devotes enormous time and energy to the developing musicians at the school.
As Marcia Slacum Greene writes, "In a school system notorious for shortchanging students, Yarborough, a native Washingtonian, works 16-hour days, using his planning and lunch periods to help students perfect a scale, a sound, a style. He accompanies students on gigs."
His students have his home telephone number. He knows the strengths and vulnerabilities of each of them. Just as Duke Ellington wrote for each of the musicians in his orchestra.
"After a man has been in the band for a while," Ellington told me one afternoon, "I can hear what his capacities are, and I write to that. And I write to each man's sound. A man's sound is his total personality."
Davey Yarborough gets to know the total personality of each of his students. Wynton Marsalis says of him: "There is a purity and integrity about the man that is for real. I do workshops, but he teaches dealing with crises with kids and parents. He is rare because he changes kids' lives."
Yarborough is demanding, as Ellington was of his musicians. Ellington's sidemen were very proud of having been skilled and creative enough to be in his band. So too the students in the New Washingtonians, and to be dismissed from that orchestra would be a tragedy. Yarborough insists that his musicians make and stay on the honor roll or else be in danger of losing their places in the band.
The Ellington School of the Arts, as Greene points out, "combines college preparatory courses in English, math, history, and science with music classes. Add on rehearsals and performances for as many as three musical groups [in addition to the New Washingtonians], and many of their after-school hours are consumed."
She tells of a 17-year-old senior, a trumpet player, Albert Strong: "When he solos in one rehearsal on 'I Remember Clifford,' written in memory of trumpeter Clifford Brown, he drapes the room in sadness, leaving other players to wonder about the depth of such emotion.
" 'I've lived through some rough times,' Strong says, 'not being with my mother since I was two, figuring a music scholarship would be the only way I'd go to college.' "
Another trumpet player, 16-year-old Malik West, is very shy. "In Malik's eyes," Yarborough says, "the passion is there, but also there is uncertainty . . . The worry about making a mistake is the hurdle I want him to get over."
At a Yarborough rehearsal, a trumpeter can't get it right, and stops playing. When I was a clarinet player in the all-school symphony orchestra in Boston, our director, Fortunato Sordillo, would roar, when we made a mistake: "Stay out of that passage! Just look at your instrument as if there's something wrong with it!"
Davey Yarborough has an entirely different way of teaching. When the trumpet player stopped playing because he'd missed some notes, Yarborough said sharply, "Don't take your horn out of your mouth! Frustration is a distraction. Nothing beats a failure but a try."
As if he had time to spare, Yarborough told me recently that he and his wife have started a mentoring program the Washington Jazz Arts Institute that will serve D.C. students with musical capacity who need a professional's attention.
Yarborough is totally immersed in a life of music. His daughter bought him a button that says: "No music. No me."
So it was with Ellington.
Billy Strayhorn, Ellington's closest musical associate, once told me: "Duke would much rather sit up and write after work than go to a party. I'm used to his calling me at 8 or 9 in the morning to talk over a musical problem that's just developed or tell me about a piece he's been up all night writing."
Yarborough never got to play in Duke's orchestra, but Mercer Ellington who led the band after Duke's death tried twice to bring Yarborough into the orchestra. "But always," Davey says, "it was on too short notice. I had other commitments." He keeps his commitments.
Ellington himself and his music have clearly been a major influence in Yarborough's life. Duke once wrote a song, "What Am I Here For?" Not many people are that certain of what they want their lives to amount to. But Duke was. And so is Davey.
One night, Wynton Marsalis, doing a benefit in town, surprised Davey by asking him to play. "He dipped his shoulders," Greene wrote, "swayed his horn and filled the room with music so captivating it brought thunderous applause from the audience and from clusters of his students, gushing with pride."
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