Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Achieving Depth

In a profile of Jack Gilbert, "The Ghost Inside," Sarah Manguso asks the poet what he feels is "the most important thing a poet must seek" to which he replied, "Depth and warmth."

Do you agree with Gilbert, and if so, how do you go about trying to seek these and hope they follow through in your writing?

Is there something else you feel is vital for a poet or writer to seek as well?

I'll close this post with one of my favorite poems from Gilbert, Failing and Flying.

6 comments:

  1. Off the top of my head, I'd say I seek a sense of movement, internal movement, somehow. Either in the characters, or the reader.

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  2. I like that thought, Joanne! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. I definitely agree with depth. warmth, to me, depends on the topic. "warmth" makes me think of happy, lovey-dovey type topics and we know not all poetry is about that. I would prefer to use the word "alive" which encompasses the energy found in all good poetry, in my humble opinion.

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    1. Yes, "alive" or "full of life" is an important element for me when I'm reading poetry to, Sheila. Thanks for your feedback!

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  4. I'm with Sheila...warmth, maybe not always. But, emotion, yes. Do you know that last post of yours took me on a poetry journey? I kept clicking and reading and clicking and reading and it was quite enjoyable. Lovely, in fact. I really need to read more poetry in 2012.

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    1. I think we've got some great additional elements in the comments! Thanks for yours, Laura. I'm happy you enjoyed the last post...it was fun to string together and I hope you'll return each Sunday or Monday for other journeys. :)

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