Comments on: In memoriam: William Safire, a gem of a wordsmith http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/ Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:40:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Daisy Fried http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25561 Daisy Fried Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:31:36 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25561 Safire, in blurbing my husband's book on language (Jim Quinn--"American Tongue and Cheek: A Populist's Guide to the Language," Pantheon, 1980) called him "The Professor Moriarty of language." (Jim is against everything Safire stood for in grammar. Safire apparently had a good sense of humor.) Daisy Safire, in blurbing my husband’s book on language (Jim Quinn–”American Tongue and Cheek: A Populist’s Guide to the Language,” Pantheon, 1980) called him “The Professor Moriarty of language.” (Jim is against everything Safire stood for in grammar. Safire apparently had a good sense of humor.)

Daisy
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]]> By: Margo Berdeshevsky http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25556 Margo Berdeshevsky Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:27:44 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25556 apologies, slip of the key--Abigail, not Amanda. apologies, slip of the key–Abigail, not Amanda.
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]]> By: Margo Berdeshevsky http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25555 Margo Berdeshevsky Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:26:44 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25555 I shudder to think of space explorers as soldiers. The stars needed, nor need-- no kindred travelers to be toting arms. Peace makers, yes. And Rupert Brooke had wiser and more poignant sentiments than those you, or Mr. Safire might reference, Amanda..."Imagine my non existence. Best love and goodbye," --Rupert Brooke. margo I shudder to think of space explorers as soldiers. The stars needed, nor need– no kindred travelers to be toting arms. Peace makers, yes.

And Rupert Brooke had wiser and more poignant sentiments than those you, or Mr. Safire might reference, Amanda…”Imagine my non existence. Best love and goodbye,” –Rupert Brooke.

margo
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]]> By: Terreson http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25545 Terreson Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:26:05 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25545 Well, Ms Deutsch, if poetry is required, depended upon, to produce another young soldier willingly entering the killing fields I just might have to, and equally as willingly, cut out my tongue, since, poetry would have become a betrayal to me. For every R. Brooke poem there is a Sassoon and Graves and Rosenberg and Akhmatova and Hemingway and Apolinaire and Mandelstam and Montale and Tsvetayeva and Ungaretti and Jarrell poem drawn on war. I respect the man's passing. I less respect the writer's rhetorical bending of truth to fit an agenda. But then much the same could be said about poets too. Terreson Well, Ms Deutsch, if poetry is required, depended upon, to produce another young soldier willingly entering the killing fields I just might have to, and equally as willingly, cut out my tongue, since, poetry would have become a betrayal to me.

For every R. Brooke poem there is a Sassoon and Graves and Rosenberg and Akhmatova and Hemingway and Apolinaire and Mandelstam and Montale and Tsvetayeva and Ungaretti and Jarrell poem drawn on war.

I respect the man’s passing. I less respect the writer’s rhetorical bending of truth to fit an agenda. But then much the same could be said about poets too.

Terreson
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]]> By: Abigail Deutsch http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25529 Abigail Deutsch Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:21:15 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25529 Thanks, everyone, for your comments on this post and the complex man who inspired it. I want to share an insight that Yale scholar David Bromwich published today regarding Safire's moon speech (which both Don and I link to above). He hears in Safire's phrasing an indebtedness to World War One poet Rupert Brooke, and uses the allusion to structure his own response to the speech: "Rupert Brooke, a poet of the First World War, wrote in the opening lines of a poem that Safire must have learned in school, 'If I should die, think only this of me;/ That there’s some corner of some foreign field/ That is forever England.' Compare 'some corner of another world that is forever mankind.' He fished up the sob of the shining line from his stock quotations to send the astronauts to their eternal rest. But consider the deeper poetry of the moment. The man most gifted in his time at summoning a literate audience to twitch, heave, and submit to the voice in the megaphone without regard to the man behind the curtain, had been asked to bury the first explorers of space. And what came into his mind? A paean of self-sacrifice lifted from the high age of Europe’s empires. The astronauts, as Safire saw them, were soldiers of the next empire. It is good that they lived to make this speech unnecessary. But it is good, too, in a way, that we have this speech — a lasting testimony of the limitless ambition of mere words." Read the full article here: http://original.antiwar.com/david-bromwich/2009/09/30/william-safire-wars-made-out-of-words/ Thanks, everyone, for your comments on this post and the complex man who inspired it. I want to share an insight that Yale scholar David Bromwich published today regarding Safire’s moon speech (which both Don and I link to above). He hears in Safire’s phrasing an indebtedness to World War One poet Rupert Brooke, and uses the allusion to structure his own response to the speech:

“Rupert Brooke, a poet of the First World War, wrote in the opening lines of a poem that Safire must have learned in school, ‘If I should die, think only this of me;/ That there’s some corner of some foreign field/ That is forever England.’ Compare ‘some corner of another world that is forever mankind.’ He fished up the sob of the shining line from his stock quotations to send the astronauts to their eternal rest. But consider the deeper poetry of the moment. The man most gifted in his time at summoning a literate audience to twitch, heave, and submit to the voice in the megaphone without regard to the man behind the curtain, had been asked to bury the first explorers of space. And what came into his mind? A paean of self-sacrifice lifted from the high age of Europe’s empires. The astronauts, as Safire saw them, were soldiers of the next empire. It is good that they lived to make this speech unnecessary. But it is good, too, in a way, that we have this speech — a lasting testimony of the limitless ambition of mere words.”

Read the full article here: http://original.antiwar.com/david-bromwich/2009/09/30/william-safire-wars-made-out-of-words/
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]]> By: Terreson http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25520 Terreson Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:14:55 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25520 No. I respect the man's passing. The notion that he added anything but poisonous to the language in public discourse is revisonist. He added nothing. Terreson No. I respect the man’s passing. The notion that he added anything but poisonous to the language in public discourse is revisonist. He added nothing.

Terreson
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]]> By: Mathias http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25503 Mathias Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:59:05 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25503 But what do you think of Roman Polanski, Eric? But what do you think of Roman Polanski, Eric?
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]]> By: Don Share http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25500 Don Share Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:54:14 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25500 A novel thesis. Notwithstanding any ostensible influence on our poets, the most striking thing in my opinion that he did was compose a speech for Richard Nixon lamenting the loss of the Apollo 11 astronauts on their historic mission to the moon. That loss, of course, did not actually occur. You can read the text, which can only be admired by fans of alternate-universe American history, here: http://gawker.com/5369364/william-safires-finest-speech A novel thesis. Notwithstanding any ostensible influence on our poets, the most striking thing in my opinion that he did was compose a speech for Richard Nixon lamenting the loss of the Apollo 11 astronauts on their historic mission to the moon. That loss, of course, did not actually occur.

You can read the text, which can only be admired by fans of alternate-universe American history, here:

http://gawker.com/5369364/william-safires-finest-speech
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]]> By: Eric http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25499 Eric Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:52:15 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25499 The fact that William Safire had some superficial cleverness with language is far overshadowed by his colossal folly as a political "thinker." Like Buckley, Safire was far more successful at playing the role of an intellectual than at actually being an intellectual. Safire argued forcefully for the US invasion of Iraq, insisting that the resulting Iraq war would be easily won, and he stubbornly insisted that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (even long after this crackpot theory had been thoroughly debunked by all the US intelligence agencies). I see little that is admirable about this man. The fact that William Safire had some superficial cleverness with language is far overshadowed by his colossal folly as a political “thinker.” Like Buckley, Safire was far more successful at playing the role of an intellectual than at actually being an intellectual. Safire argued forcefully for the US invasion of Iraq, insisting that the resulting Iraq war would be easily won, and he stubbornly insisted that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (even long after this crackpot theory had been thoroughly debunked by all the US intelligence agencies). I see little that is admirable about this man.
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]]> By: Teri G. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25498 Teri G. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:41:27 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25498 Slate disapproves: "Safire refused to observe the usual journalistic standards because he never really thought of himself as a journalist. A human hybrid of flack, hack, speechwriter, book author, novelist, and politician, he answered to nobody but himself, and for all his alleged skill as a reporter, he never asked himself any tough questions." http://www.slate.com/id/2229855/ Slate disapproves:

“Safire refused to observe the usual journalistic standards because he never really thought of himself as a journalist. A human hybrid of flack, hack, speechwriter, book author, novelist, and politician, he answered to nobody but himself, and for all his alleged skill as a reporter, he never asked himself any tough questions.”

http://www.slate.com/id/2229855/
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]]> By: Tom Degan http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25493 Tom Degan Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:59:10 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25493 First Bill Buckley now Bill Safire. Two of the few remaining intelligent conservatives within the space of so short at time. The voices of reason within the conservative movement are dwindling by the day. Meanwhile the movement that the two men were so identified with - the movement they both tried to save from the kooks, criminals and fools who have hijacked it - continues to implode. Isn't life wonderful? http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com Tom Degan First Bill Buckley now Bill Safire. Two of the few remaining intelligent conservatives within the space of so short at time. The voices of reason within the conservative movement are dwindling by the day.

Meanwhile the movement that the two men were so identified with – the movement they both tried to save from the kooks, criminals and fools who have hijacked it – continues to implode.

Isn’t life wonderful?

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
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]]> By: Chris Piuma http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/09/in-memoriam-william-safire-a-gem-of-a-wordsmith/#comment-25481 Chris Piuma Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:45:13 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=5350#comment-25481 Though, of course, that "Hopefully" example you bring up: It is hogwash. "Hopefully," as the introduction to an English sentence, has basically one meaning, and is not as ambiguous as you or your teacher or Mr. Safire, RIP, would have had us believe. Notably, only "hopefully" got called out for this rough treatment, while other sentence-modifying initial adverbs got a free pass. Etc., etc. Though, of course, that “Hopefully” example you bring up: It is hogwash. “Hopefully,” as the introduction to an English sentence, has basically one meaning, and is not as ambiguous as you or your teacher or Mr. Safire, RIP, would have had us believe. Notably, only “hopefully” got called out for this rough treatment, while other sentence-modifying initial adverbs got a free pass. Etc., etc.
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