A Poet To Remember

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I don't read too many modern poets, so I couldn't say. Do you think our era will be remembered for its poetry, or will the poetry of pop songs be our main contribution? Most of the poetry of today, like most of the art, is too abstract for my taste. Even I, living today, can only name one living poet (James Tate), and that's because my mother used to read his stuff.

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Originally Posted by Aurora Ariel

If you could name one or two poets who you think will be still be read in fifty years time who would they be?

I think two of the first that come to mind would probably be Seamus Heaney and Magaret Atwood, as they are pretty well known already, but there are many other minor poets who may become admired and celebrated by more in the future.What are your predictions?

*Note:They have to be alive.This post is specifically dealing with poets breathing and writing today.

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I don't know if you mean of all time or currently living. Here's two American poets of the 20th century that will be remembered for a long time: T.S. Elliot and Wallace Stevens.

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I think that's a good theory, Aurora Ariel. :nod: Personally, I don't think paper will ever die completely; or, if paper as we know it, at least not all physical modes of record-keeping. Perhaps we will find something more permanent than paper. Either way, I do believe the digital age will come to an end. Digital record-keeping is very perilous; easily destroyed, and dependent on a rapidly-decreasing supply of natural resources. In other words, it's wasteful, and it's impermanent. Think of what can happen when just one person's computer crashes: if all your poetry is on there, it's gone. Forever. I don't believe such a system, while currently popular, can ever be long-lasting. But, perhaps that will be our generation's legacy to the ages; the works that were lost due to the impermanence of digital records. People in a hundred years' time will be excited to unearth, one at a time, the few hard-copies that were made by those with foresight. Our technological advances will mean nothing once digital technology is gone, save those advances made in scientific theory, perhaps. Anyway, it's something that I find interesting to think about. :p

As for poetry, I agree with you that rap will probably be noted in the future as a historical stage in poetic style. I don't like to think about it, but it's quite likely.