Literary Crimes

[Hawkman]

Firstly, this is not autobiographical, nor is it an attack on any poet posting on the forum. It is, however, a little dig at the literary establishment. Now read on. - H

So you want to write a poem?
Do you think you have the right?
But poetry’s is scholars’ meat,
And dreamed by candlelight.

So you didn’t go to Oxbridge?
Not bright enough, I see,
Can you pass examination?
Recognition isn’t free.

Can you write one in the Latin?
Or in Anglo-Saxon verse?
Well how about in ancient Greek?
Your quest is quite perverse.

When you have no education
You really can’t succeed,
For who can take you seriously,
When you haven’t a degree?

The publishers will spurn you,
Deaf ears won’t hear your pleas,
To look with favour on your work
Or editors appease.

So vainly you keep writing,
Committing literary crimes,
Just plodding at it every day,
And churning out bad rhymes.

[hillwalker]

Love it - a well-aimed blast at those poetry snobs who name-drop and show off their erudition - but have nothing of any value to say.

Oops - have I just shot myself in the foot?

[Hawkman]

If you have, please allow me to supply a band-aid!

[Hayseed Huck]

A note to hill on name dropping.

Yesterday at Joe's auto repair shop, Joe asked James
for a ....

"Hey James, do you have a ...."

Right then, Joe was fearful that if he said three-quarter
wrench, he might be accused of name-dropping.

Yesterday in Professor Taylor's rhetoric class, Anne asked
Mike if he had heard of .....

"Mike, do you know .........? She was afraid to say Corax,
for fear she would be called a name-dropper.

Let's drop as many names as we can.
Nothing is wrong with dropping names.

Names are our tools.

Also, be as erudite as you can be. let people know
you are not a dunce. What's wrong with knowing and
what is offensive about writing in, say, eighteenth
century prose?

I say show-off.

I say let out your knowledge.

Only a reverse snob decries intellect.

But don't brag.

Bragging is an awful practice.

"Hey James, where's that three-quarter wrench?"

"I know Corax."

HH

[Hayseed Huck]

and another thing.

Everyone here would give a year's pay to be part
of the literary establishment.

Being a part of it indicates you have connected
with the best writers.

Sounds like the crow and the grapes.

As for me, I worked my butt off to be part of
the literary establishment-- never made it tho.

I admire those who did make it.

HH

[PrinceMyshkin]

Wonderful fun, but shouldn't the last line have ended with an off-rhyme?

[Hawkman]

HH

“Κακόυ κορακος κακόν οον.”

Hi, Prince, what, you mean it doesn't? ;)

H

[Hayseed Huck]

“Κακόυ κορακος κακόν οον.”

I could pretend I know what
the above says...

but why?

Seems rather childish to me.

Keats was correct when he translated
his poems into English.

HH

[Il Dante]

Nice poem.

I would note that William Shakespeare never had more than a grammar school education. T.S. Elliot was highly educated... but NOT in poetry; he studied philosophy and worked at a bank; he learned poetic theory from reading books. John Keats taught himself most of what he knew about literature and poetry, and never was able to afford a classical education at a university. William Blake never became a part of the literary establishment until he was posthumously canonized almost a hundred years after his death.

The moral of the story: recognition or training by "the establishment" isn't always necessary for greatness.

So you're right. Recognition, while nice, is overrated.

[Hawkman]

"She was afraid to say Corax,
for fear she would be called a name-dropper."

"Also, be as erudite as you can be. let people know
you are not a dunce. What's wrong with knowing and
what is offensive about writing in, say, eighteenth
century prose?

I say show-off.

I say let out your knowledge.

Only a reverse snob decries intellect."

Corax (or Korax Κόραξ), along with Tisias, was one of the founders of ancient Greek rhetoric. It has sometimes been asserted that they are merely legendary personages. Other scholars contend that Corax and Tisias were the same person, described in one fragment as "Tisias, the Crow" (corax is the ancient Greek term for "crow"). Corax is said to have lived in Sicily in the 5th century BC.

Tisias got his teacher Corax to agree that he would not pay him his teacher's fee until he won his first lawsuit. He then avoided going to court. Corax got him into court by suing him himself, for the money. He argued that if he, Corax, won the case, he would get his pay, and if he lost, he would still get it because Tisias would have won his first lawsuit, thereby fulfilling the terms of their agreement. Tisias, some versions say, retorted that if he, Tisias, lost the case, he would escape under the terms of the agreement, having lost, not won, his first lawsuit, and if he won it he should also be free, since he would be awarded the money at issue. The judge is said to have thrown both of them out of court, remarking, "kakou korakos kakon oon," "a bad egg from a bad crow"

If you can't stand the heat...

[Hawkman]

Thanks Il Dante, Spot on, as usual. These days, the education doesn't guarantee recognition either! As far as I can see luck, or at least a good publicist, seem to be the prime requisites. Just look at all the minor celebs , famous for who they sleep with or just taking their clothes off, get published (after being ghost written) and end up on the best sellers list!

What can you do?

H