http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/02/lightning-and-lightning-bug/ Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:40:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/02/lightning-and-lightning-bug/#comment-2896 Robin Kemp Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:13:09 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=722#comment-2896 "Balance" is exactly the right title for a poem that shows exacty how to walk the diction wire. “Balance” is exactly the right title for a poem that shows exacty how to walk the diction wire.
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]]> http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/02/lightning-and-lightning-bug/#comment-2895 Don Share Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:53:57 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=722#comment-2895 About those jarring registers of diction, I'm reminded of Housman's complaint about late-17th century poets (the ones Johnson called "metaphysical"): "Their object was to startle by novelty and amuse by ingenuity a public whose one wish was to be so startled and amused." About those jarring registers of diction, I’m reminded of Housman’s complaint about late-17th century poets (the ones Johnson called “metaphysical”): “Their object was to startle by novelty and amuse by ingenuity a public whose one wish was to be so startled and amused.”
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]]> http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/02/lightning-and-lightning-bug/#comment-2894 Susan McLean Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:43:47 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=722#comment-2894 I agree that wild swings in diction are overused in contemporary poetry. Nothing gets an easy laugh faster than downshifting from polysyllabic or "poetic" diction to slang, dialect, or an obscenity. It's showy, but often empty. Berryman pulled it off, yet in some of his imitators it looks too calculated, just one more trick from the bag. On the other hand, more subtle effects, as in your examples, really contribute to the meaning of the poem. A shift from polysyllabic words to simple words of one or two syllables, as in Whitman's poem, slows down the final line and often lends it an emotional power that maintaining the same level of diction would not. I agree that wild swings in diction are overused in contemporary poetry. Nothing gets an easy laugh faster than downshifting from polysyllabic or “poetic” diction to slang, dialect, or an obscenity. It’s showy, but often empty. Berryman pulled it off, yet in some of his imitators it looks too calculated, just one more trick from the bag. On the other hand, more subtle effects, as in your examples, really contribute to the meaning of the poem. A shift from polysyllabic words to simple words of one or two syllables, as in Whitman’s poem, slows down the final line and often lends it an emotional power that maintaining the same level of diction would not.
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