Basil Bunting
This week we will discuss the "Objectivist" poets. For your blog response I would like you to read the following article on Basil Bunting and listen to the audio. Consider the following questions:
1) How Does Bunting's poetics differ from other artists we have read/looked at? How is it similar?
2) What is the difference between reading Bunting in Poems for the Millennium and hearing him read the poems? What is gained by hearing the poetry out loud?
Basil Bunting
1) How Does Bunting's poetics differ from other artists we have read/looked at? How is it similar?
2) What is the difference between reading Bunting in Poems for the Millennium and hearing him read the poems? What is gained by hearing the poetry out loud?
Basil Bunting
posted by marcus silcock at 4:45 PM
50 Comments:
Bunting's poetics differ very much from those of other artists that we have looked at because it is so "matter-of-fact." There is no deeper meaning to his poetry. It is simply what it is, and that is all it is to be taken for. His poetry, like the poetry of other Objectivist poets, is like a snapshot of an instance in time. It is so real that it is made boring to me.
Bunting's poetics are not similar to other artists we have studied, in my opinion. I cannot think of a poem that we have studied that did not have some sort of hidden meaning.
I think that when I heard Bunting read the poems, I was able to understand and hear them as Bunting would have wanted. I got more meaning out of the poem, and I felt that I could hear the alliteration and the flow of the words as he meant them to be. I gained Bunting's inerpretation of his poem through listening to his poem.
Stefanie Tallent
I think that Bunting's poems are very different form anything that we have read so far. Bunting writings are straight to the point. He leaves no room for the reader to draw their own meaning to what he is trying to say. I agree with Stefanie when she said "it is so real that it is made boring to me". It's true his poems are made boring... their is no room to explore the poem. The words are what they are. You can't loose yourself in Buntings' work like other poets that we have read thus far. When I heare the tapes I think that I got a better understanding of how the poem was suppose to be read/how Bunting wanted it read. However, if I had to grade his work form 1-10 I would give him a 6.
Ashlee Richards
I feel Basil Bunting's poetics differ the most from some of the Futurism poets both in form and intent. Although F.T. Martinetti and Bunting both had a background in music and emphasized sound in their works, Martinetti emphasized sounds in an abstract way. Looking at the poem COLORS, Abstract Theatrical Syntesis you see words and sounds represented by words placed on the page way that looks disorganized, but in my opinion it's that way on purpose to make try to get you to feel the sounds and emotions. Bunting's work is different because it looks more like a story and the way he puts words together create rhythms like a song, a ballad to tell a story. In my opinion his style also wants you to feel sounds and emotions, but does it in a way that is more organized or familiar to your ear, or maybe it's just that his poetry is presented in a form that seems more familiar to me.
Listening to Buntings poems was more enjoyable to me than reading them because you could just sit back and listen to the rhythm and not have to guess where the emphasis should be. You could close your eyes and be carried off to another place and time. It made me feel like I was sitting by a stone fireplace in a pub on a damp night listening to someone telling a story.
Patrick Nelson
This weeks blog interests me! I really like the style that Bunting uses because it is very different from the other artists's that we have studied. I think that he has mulitple perspectives all in short sentences. He doesn't drag them out with long words but yet simple phrases that every one is familiar with with. But in the same sense you still find yourself digging for a more sophisticated answer.
I believe that no one artist is simliar to Bunting but pieces of each style of poetry could be seen inside. You can see the imagry as well as dream in his poem creating it in your mind as you wish. Listening to his poem as he would read gave me a different way to look at the poem because I would never think to read it like such. So clam and simple, straight forward. I feel the essence of naturality was left in his work. Tiffany Buie
While reading the article on Bunting I came to the conclusion that this was a very serious individual. I could tell that he was not very interested or moved by all the "extra" stuff poets today use to "express" theirselves. This is what sets him apart from the previous works from other poets that we have looked at. In all of the other eras such as surrealism and dada there was always a deeper meaning to what was actually stated. With Bunting, he says what he means. I found it interesting and true that in the article it satated that he said it was not necessary to explain to the reader because they were as smart as the writer of the poem. This makes his reading so much easier to read and is not as big as a challenge as other poems that we have read.
When listening to Bunting read the poems himself I could really see what he meant. the way he read these simple words made it even more understandable. I was able to catch the ryhthm and follow along. it was much more enjoyable to hear the poems than to read them.
Natisha Webb
Listening to Bunting's poem makes them take on a totally different meaning. Reading in your head doesn't always do a poem justice. I think that when we read certain poems in our own head, we immediately make an interpretation of how we think the words should sound and go together. This could be based on our language and the sounds we hear everyday.
From the article, I could tell that Bunting was exposed, while growing up to a lot of music and poets who supported the idea of poetry as music such as Zukovsky, who we discussed in class. This is a contributing factor to his own unique sense of style.
Although Bunting emphasized hearing his poems, I did not find any more meaning in listening than reading it. Certain words or phrases stood out, but when it came to figuring out a meaning, it was like one of Gertrude Stein's nonsense of words.
Shera Gadson
In bunting's poems, there is little room for personal interpretations. Which is very different that the poems that's we've been reading. The words that appear on the page are what they are. His poems are straight to the point. He didn't like to explain what his poems meant so maybe that is why they are so exact in that "what you see is what you get."
By hearing the pomes instead of reading them, the rythm of the poems is made even more noticable. He was much influenced by the music of his generation, and that can be read but more heard by listening to the poems.
Buntings poems are silmilar to some of the poets we've studied, in that they were influenced by music. But i can't think of any poems we've studied so far that hasn't had a deeper meaning that must be picked at.
Amber Mains
Bunting's work in itself is unique. It places emphasis on the way the word sounds when spoken out loud, and that is where the meaning comes from. It's a lot like the ethnopoetics that we've looked at, where sound plays a big role. He creates a scene with sounds that describe how the scene should feel.
I think his poetry isn't "made boring". It's very crisp and to the point, but the feelings they evoke are anything but boring in my opinion.
It's always great when someone can tell you where the emphasis should be when it is their work. It makes things less complicated. When I read it out loud it sounds very different(I can only find a little rhythm) than what he might be trying to portray.
Karin Aydelette
Basil Buntings poetics differ from other artist is that he does not imphasise words as much. Yes, he does some, but the other poets we have listen to really make the poetry have a beat, and make it seem like a song.
When you read it, you don't hear how the poet ment it to be heard. You read it in most likely a monotone voice and it doesn't have rythmn. When you listen to it, you enjoy the beat and the song-like format of the poem.
~Sally Hinson
Some people say music is poetry. I believe it can be poetry. Some popular music artists were said to be poets, such as Eminem, John Mayer, Tupac Shakur, and others. Poets and music interchangeable, (i.e. poets can be musicians and vice versa.) Buntings quote, "Poetry, like music, is to be heard.” I think that line is phenomenal. It’s like saying if you write some poetry, and read it, it will not have the same effect as apposed to reading it out loud. Reading it out loud gives more emotion, and emphasis on the words. Like with music, when it is written out on paper, its basically nothing. When the music is played, it gives it life and more meaning. Music can be played in different keys, and tones, and poetry can be read with different tones. Depending upon the way you say something can be interpreted differently. That’s kind of the same correlation.
~James DeGraffenreid~
I thought Bunting's poems differed from many of the other poets we've have discussed in class. For me, understanding his work was a lot easier. They were straight to the point and I didn't have to spend so much time wondering what he was trying to say. The difference in reading in poems in the book and hearing him read it aloud was that I was able to hear them the way he read it. I had the chance to hear how he emphasized certain words opposed to how someone would imitate his work and read it how they think it is to read.
Johnna' Burns
Bunting is a "facts" man. He finds it more compelling to put things straight out there than to dance around the subject. When reading the poems both online and in our book i found that Bunting is writting about actual things. For example he talks of the ocean in "weeping oaks grieve, chestnuts raise." while talkin about oceans not only do we get the image of ocean and waves, but we understand the picture put in our heads because Bunting puts the facts out there for us to understand, the fact that he is speaking of the ocean and not something too deep to understand. WHen i listened to the poem online it gave me an even better picture of what bunting and his poetry is about. the poem i heard again was about nature. the tone of voice used in this poem brought a whole different feeling to the poem than if i would have just read it myself. the tone and rythmn that was used came from Buntings backround in northern England where there was so much nature around him in the 1900's. I feel that when ever you hear a poem being read by the poet who wrote it that it give you a whole different look to what can be interperated.
Bunting's poetry is quit interesting. He seems to focus a lot on nature and things of the sort. Emphasizes land, sea, trees and so on. I can see that to him the poem is just an object. That there are not really any ideas unless they come from things. There is no specific structure to the items he uses, i think that he thinks of a sentence and goes with it. Like in "Weeping oaks grieve, chestnuts raise" he starts off with the same line as the title. From there he carries his thoughts onto different things. Like mournful candles and a coming wave. This just seems like a stream of words with not that much coherency. It could almost pass as surrealism, but it is not exactly dream like. The objects in his poetry are not all that clear but flow enough to create good poetry.
What you gain from hearing him read his own poetry as opposed to reading it outloud yourself is the rhythm. Because there is no music writen on the page that you can follow, it is difficult to get it just right. I read the poem before i listend to it and it did not seem to flow. however when i heard him read it the way it was meant to be read, than it all made perfect sense to me. that is the only problem with this type of poetry the meaning is some how lost when it is not read just right.
~lisa thompson~
Bunting's poetics differ from other artists that we have read/looked at this semester, but in some aspects, it is similar. I believe that it is different because Bunting comes right out and says that you shouldn't have to explain a poem, that "explication should be kept to a minimum" because "the reader is as smart as you are." While I don't feel other poems may have been explained much either, this is the first time I've seen a poet describe his approach as such. Bunting also uses sound differently than the way we've talked about sound before. We've used sound before as made up words where you can infer whatever you want from it. However, when Bunting uses sound, he uses actual words--his idea of sound is the way you hear a poem read because he believes a poem should be heard, not read silently, which I thought was interesting because I don't usually read out loud. Nevertheless, it is similar in the aspect that I still didn't get a whole lot of it. I have trouble interpreting poetry--I don't understand what it is the poets are trying to get from or give to the reader.
Reading Bunting's poetry was quite different than hearing him read the poems. When I read his poems, I paused at the end of every line, period, and comma. However, as he read it, I noticed that he paused in different places and used emotion in different places than I had anticipated. When you hear the poetry read aloud, you hear things that you might not have seen when you read it silently, and it sounds different than it did in your head. This causes you to perceive the poem in a different way, although sometimes I'm still not quite sure why these words meant enough to the poet for him to arrange them in this way. Nevertheless, I do find it intriguing both to read them and hear them because even though at times I might not understand them, I can still admire and respect the art that they are and that was used to create them.
Jessica Dickerson
Basil Bunting's poems are definetly unique. I think that his music background had a huge impact on his works. He said that poetry is music. We have sortof seen this idea in the other poets but not as much as in Bunting. He does not ramble in his poetry. It seems like there should be many hidden meanings but his poetry gets straight to the point. All the other poets have required you to interpret their works. Bunting said that "your reader is as smart as you." He does not elaborate on what he wants to say for lines and lines. His poems are very much to the point. I never thought I would be bored by this type of poetry because I have a hard time reading into poems and finding a meaning. But his poems surprisingly bored me. They were not a challenge to read and understand and I guess I have come to expect a challenge when reading poetry.
When I read Bunting's poems in Poems for the Millenium I found myself bored and I had a hard time concentrating. They didn't challenge me to think like the rest of the poems. But when I listened to the audio I found them slightly more interesting. Hearing him read and hearing the seriousness in his voice allowed me to better connect with him as poet. I still can't say I did absolutely love his poems but the audio did help make them slightly more interesting.
Megan Foster
Learning about Bunting and his poetry was rather interesting. I was interested in all the things he had to say and the poetry he put out for us to read.
I strongly agree with his quote about poetry being music and having sound. Poetry I believe indeed is music, in which many have the sounds of a beat that is sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Many of us dont get to understand what the beat of the poem may be because many times poems arent read aloud. Which leads me into hearing his poems read vs. reading them myself. It seem to be understood grately when it(his poems) was read aloud. I was able to hear the stress and the sound that he was going for, for that particular poem.
Bunting poetry in fact is different from the rest of the poetry we have read this year. Like many of the people have responded, he uses simple and complex language. What you hear is what you get. Its like he doesn't want you to find the answers but go with the answers that he's given you. I think his poetry can be best described as everyday language. Poetry that everyone can somehow grasp.
Bunting is the first poet to say "don't explain yourself! Your reader is just as smart as you!" Bunting wrote for a general adience, for simple people ,living in a simple world. Even if he had no hidden agenda behind his writing, it is sophisicated and structered in such a way that it really does sound more like music. Bunting also promoted poetry as an performance piece like DADA. The sound of the words give the meaning to his poetry and maybe all poetry. Bunting performing his own art shows the importence of speaking the word, and shows less importence on thinking about the word. I loved listening to him read his own work. Everything made more sense, you could hear how he used broken line tech. to change the use of the "silence". Most enjoyable thus far? Basil Bunting.
That is me who posted, "Bunting was the first to say don't explain yourself"
Rebekah Bair-Sanders
I enjoyed this week's blog, because I think I know exactly what the author meant when he wrote it. Bunting's poems differ from other poets because he doesn't use indirect messages, if there is something he wants the reader to know he actually says it. The other poets poems don't get to me because I don't understand them, unlike Bunting. Bunting seem like he was a very calm and collect person, he didn't just write poems like other artist may do, he seem like he was very serious with his work. I think a way that Bunting and other artist we had read about are similar because they use imagery.
When I heard the audio, I made the poem more clear. Hearing a poem read by the artist, actually tells how the poem is suppose to be read. And if there is a emphasis on a word or sentence that put where is goes. If I would have read the poem, I would have read it totally different, I would have read it faster than the way he read it. The artist reading their poem brings the poem more life.
Tammy McRae
Bunting’s poetry, while simpler than most we have read, is very intense. It seems that he writes about very serious issues. I gather allusions to poverty (unfair economic systems), war, and nature in many of his writings. I was unable to access the website provided, and therefore, could not listen to the readings, but I would assume that hearing the author’s voice and expression of his own words is very powerful. His use of alliteration and imagery emphasize his point—what he wants the reader to feel or take from the poem. In the Bunting poems I was able to read on the internet, I noticed a distinct (though very natural) rhythm and style that the author utilizes and makes his own. And his humility is evident in most of his writing, which is admirable in my opinion. Although Bunting isn’t as “deep” as other poets, I think that he is just as “deep”, if not more sentimental. He uses writing to focus on real issues of his time and the people around him. The poem is simply an object to evoke an idea, thought, or feeling—nothing to make him special, just a way to express his perspective.
Katie Rogers
One of the many things that I read about Bunting's poetry that I thought was interesting was that he said, "never explain...your reader is as smart as you." And I was thinking to myself, "Well, I'm not as smart as him and it's hard to figure out his meanings. Anf if that's the case, I shouldn't have to interpret his works." But, as I continued to read more about him, he said things that still in it's own way, it did in fact explain or add some much needed information so that it could better be understood. He said that his poetry was like music...it was to be heard. He went on to say, "Reading in silence is the source of half the misconceptions that have caused the public to distrust poetry."
Another fact is that, he believed that poetry is influenced by the word pattern and they become articulated and clarified, which shows across the poem. The meaning of the poetry is in the sound.
-Amelia O'Neal-
I think that all of these poems that we have read have all be different from the norm. Or what we think a poem is supposed to be. He was different but I dont think that he had done something totally different from others. He was to the point, true but I think that others could do that too.But I think that he was okay. Everyone in this book does some things a little different. It all in how people interpert it.
I think that hearing the poems were better because we got his meaning and made us understand what he was trying to say. The flow and everything was different than how I would read it or how I read the ones in the poems.
Adrienne Mann
Buntings poems seemed to evolve over time. Always two lines in each stanza rhymed. His words neither flowery nor simple come together to form beautiful music in the readers mind. He truly is a talented poet.
Mike parker
I think I have enjoyed this weeks blog more than any ot the other ones so far. Bunting's style of poetry is more straight to the point. It's very matter-of-fact. You don't have to read so deeply into them like some of the other poems by different poets that we have already looked at.
Bunting says, "poetry, like music, is to be heard." I would have to agree with his statement. I seemed to get more out of hearing the poems than just reading them myself. He definitly read them differently than I did. I could hear more of a rythem to the poems after listening to him.
Kimberly Richtarik
I just realize that I forgot to sign my name at the end of my comment. My comment was posted at 3:06 and it starts by saying "Learning about Bunting poetry..."and ends "something that everyone can grasp". Andrea Brown
Basil Bunting's poetics is focused on the use of sounds. His poem was short and to the point. He wants the reader to not just focus on the words and meanings of them, but also to the sound that they create. His approach to sound is different from other poets that we have read. The only similarity that I saw was his use of complicated word patterns.
The difference in reading and listening to the poem is that, when reading, there is no sense of the serious tone. While listening you pick the serious tone up right away. While listening, the reader also gets a stronger sense of the images in the poem. They become photo-like images.
Nicole Parker
I think that Bunting's poetic techniques are so different from anything that we have read thus far. I mean we have explored some pretty out there poems, but none like his. Bunting's name should be "BLUNTing" because he work is so straight forward. His poetry reminds me of the picture that we looked at during class, its just a snapshot. Which would probably explain why we label him as an objectivist. Yet, his poetry his so blunt that it leaves no room for the reader to come to their own conclusions, no room for them to look beyond what is presented. I think that his poetry was easier to understand once I listened to it. The words seemed to come more to life, than they would if I were simply read them. The poem made more sense after listening to it. Having said all of this, I would say that he was my least favorite poet thus far, just because even though his work was better to listen to, it doesn't allow me to find a deeper meaning because he already has it thrown out there.
Na'Kol M. Curtis
Buntings writings are extremely different than the other poets/movements that we have been reading about because in most of them you have to go in and look for context clues and such and look for the hidden meaning in like every word but Bunting doesnt do that. he doesnt skip around and make you think behind or search for the meaning in the context of the poem... He comes right out and tells it like it is. I like that. Poetry sometimes is confusing with the way poets word things or the uses of plays on words. I dont like to have to search for the hidden meaning in every word. The fact that his writing is very stright forward leaves no room for error when interpreting his poems. When I was listening to the poems, I noticed a rhythm that was very similar to maybe an old folk song. The beats just made me think of old times. I enjoyed reading his work but I moreso enjoyed hearing the way that it is supposed to be read the emphasis on certain words, the rhythms etc. Over all I think that he is my favorite.
Kimberly Grimes 5588
buntings poems differ from those that we have read so far in that they are more straight forward and easier to understand. THe meaning comes across more plainly but i think that there is somthing deeper that you dont quite see on the first read through. The difference between bunting is you arent racking you rbrains trying to interpret everyline so you can sit back and enjoy the meter and rythem of the words. This is esp. apparent in reading the poems aloud giving you and even better idea of the meaning through the tone and speed of of the lines. I think bunting is a welcome breath of freash air to the headier more clouded images that we have been getting from some of the other poets like those of the surrelist movement.
-Alex Laube
i posted this yesterday and forgot to put my name on it :-) oops...
"Bunting is a "facts" man. He finds it more compelling to put things straight out there than to dance around the subject. When reading the poems both online and in our book i found that Bunting is writting about actual things. For example he talks of the ocean in "weeping oaks grieve, chestnuts raise." while talkin about oceans not only do we get the image of ocean and waves, but we understand the picture put in our heads because Bunting puts the facts out there for us to understand, the fact that he is speaking of the ocean and not something too deep to understand. WHen i listened to the poem online it gave me an even better picture of what bunting and his poetry is about. the poem i heard again was about nature. the tone of voice used in this poem brought a whole different feeling to the poem than if i would have just read it myself. the tone and rythmn that was used came from Buntings backround in northern England where there was so much nature around him in the 1900's. I feel that when ever you hear a poem being read by the poet who wrote it that it give you a whole different look to what can be interperated."
Stephanie Kuebler
I wanted to read the peom "At Briggflatts Meetinghouse" to myself at first, to see what kind of interpretation I would get. I also wanted to see if if would still be the same after I heard him read the poem. I read the poem as if I was reading a book ( you know only stopping at period). But he didnt do that. He stopped in mid sentence. Thst msde the poem have a creative twisit and a whole new meaning as well. His poem was inspired by many different factors including: music, book, poems, and other poetics. Bunting doesnt beatr around the bush. He poetry is striaghtfoward. He doesnt want you to rack your brain trying to figure out what in the heck he is trying to say. He is a great stroy teller.
Navia McDonald
I like the style that Bunting uses because it is very different from the other ones that we have looked at in class. I like the way that he is straight to the point. He uses simple words and sentences which leaves no room to try and interpret your own meaning to it. I don't think that he is that similar to other ones because they all have a different meaning that they are trying to convey. I liked listening to the poem rather than reading it because you get a sense of the sounds that he is using. When reading it to myself, it sounds nothing like the way he was reading it.
the last post was by Brittany Hall
In buntings poems everything seems very straight forward in terms of meaning. He does not really give you the opportunity to use your imagination in interpreting what he means or what he is tring to symbolize.I strongly do not perceive bunts poems to be similar to anyone we've read before, but i think i thats what attracts you to him along with his unique way of placing his words in a sentence.
Hearing his poem spoken out loud has made it very clear to understand even more where he is coming from with his writing and where he plans to go with it also. Although i have to say i have enjoyed other poems more than his only because they make me think about what they are saying instead of telling me point blank it makes it more exciting to be able to guess what the poet is tring to say.
Arnetta Hardy
Basil Bunting is very similar to the sound poetry that we read about at the begining of the semester. His poetry is based on sound. I have figured out that if I do not read the poems out loud then they do not make any sense. I think that this is what Basil Bunting is trying to get across to his readers. The poems only make sense if they are read out loud.
By hearing him read the poems you feel like that you are gaining more knowledge than just reading it out of Poems for the Millennium. To hear him and his voice and what he meant for the poem to sound like helps the reader to better understand the poem.
I do not understand poems unless they are read out loud. I liked how Basil Bunting really made emphasize on this. I think that he had some really good points about the reader not really understanding unless a poem was read out loud.
Kelsey Bowers
Basil Bunting’s poems are different from poems of the Dada movement because he is more concern with sounding the poems aloud whereas, poets involved in the Dada movement pay more attention to the typography of the poem itself. They are more focused on how the text is lay out on the page.
His poems have similar qualities to that of Mallarme. Like Mallarme who suggests that you should not name or describe an object, Basil Bunting believes that the reader is as smart as the writer so he insist that the poet should never explain. Basil Bunting also has a connection to the Modernist movement. Both emphasize the importance of music and sound in their work. He states that the delicacies and the repeated sounds of language that hold a poem as one are exposed by the means of sounding it aloud.
The difference in reading Basil Bunting’s poem and listening to him read is that I do not fully understand when to stressed long sounds and short sounds or get into the beat of the poems. When I was first introduced to sounding the poems aloud I felt frustrated because the word patterns seem compact and complicated. By hearing the poetry aloud the poems’ framework is made clearer.
Hong Ton
The reason that I appreciate Bunting's style of writing poetry is the fact that he takes into consideration everyone who may read it. He doesn't try to ridicule one's intelligence by using extremely big words nor use a lot of metaphors. He treats the reader with respect and presents his poetry the way it is meant to be understood. I'm not saying that all poetry should be like this, because I don't, poetry is very complex and is enjoyed because of its rich diversity. However, sometimes artists' tend to dwell too deeply in their own worlds and exclude some readers. I know there are quite a few poems that have went over my head for being too lofty and deep.
Bunting is the type of poet who provides directions for the way he wants his poems to be understood. Most poets allow readers their own interpretation, but Bunting wants everyone to be on the same wavelength of understanding.
As the poem "At Briggflats Meetinghouse" was read out loud, it made it more clearer. I enjoy hearing poetry outloud because it offers insight into the poets mind. One is able to adapt to the poets frame of mind and feel the mood being expressed and the power behind the words.
I believe that is why spoken word poetry is becoming more popular today because it allows poems to be expressed in many ways reading in silent hinders readers.
~~Airreia Smith
In the aspects of poetry, Bunting is both similiar to other poets that we have discussed/read. Also, his poems have similiar to poems of other movements that we have discussed in class as well. For intance, when discussing surrealism, i remember hearing that the spectator and the artist are one in the same; they both make the art come alive in their own ways. Bunting's poems are the exact same way, as is every other poem that we have read. When we read them outloud, barely knowing any background behind the poem or the poet, we read them as if they are our own works; when we find out more, we begin to read the texts in the way that the artist wrote it. In Pierre Reverdy's "Secret" there were two versions of the poem; both are similiar to the other, even though there are differences in the translation. That is to the effect to Buntins and his poems. When the reader reads the poem, the "translation" is different from the "translations" from when the artist/author reads the text.
Chris Swaim
One of the main things I got from reading about Basil Bunting is that the sound of poetry is just as important as what is being conveyed in the words themselves. He believes in basically putting what you want to say out there, that you don't need to make it so complicated. He knows how smart his reader is, and if they are as smart as the writer then both will understand and nothing will have to be explained. Hearing his poems did make it more unique, because you get to hear them they way he meant for you to, not how you are assuming that they are supposed to sound.
~Amber Poinsett~
I can think of any poet we have looked at so far to compare to Basil Bunting. I have not seen anything so direct. No imagination is needed to understand or to create a meaning to this poem. It is straight to the point leaving nothinig for the mind to do except read the words. But hearing Basil Bunting's poem being read did have some effect. It gave the poem a rythem. When I read it, it was a little harder to understand because a poet has the flow of words, the beat, in his on head. Hearing how he meant for it to flow created a more understanding for me overall. The reading of the poem also demonstrated pronouciation of words that I necessarily wouldnt have pronouced that way. But this just shows how much you can learn about a poem when hearing it read by the poet. Overall I enjoyed the poem, however I wish I would have been given some room so I could let my mind do some more thinking on the meaning!
Dorothy Michael
After fianlly getting the link to work on Basil's delivery of poetry, I realized that his style is very different from the other poets that we've been exploring. He's objectivist for one and that really kind of explains it all. The way he writes is so "plain or bland." Because the lanuage is so common or should I say unaffected. He his style shows that he doesn't have to write in a way thats too complex for the human eye to actually read. I understand it and could pick different things out of context even when I heard it. They are so "straight-to-the point." The reader doesn't have to wait to actually get the meaning out it or to draw up their own meaning b/c you can't interpet them right way.
When reading his poetry in our text, I noticed his poetry was all on the whole nature aspect to me. Also, in "Weeping oaks grieve, chesnuts raise", it has alot of action. It makes me wonder more about the life of Bunting. He uses simple phrases in his poetry...so confised readers like me are less likely to be confused. I also think the background music was very a influential part of his work.
Sorry, that last post was mine.
Samantha Ray
The main difference between Basil Bunting and other poets is the approach he takes toward poetry. Many other poets force the reader to create meaning from the words on the page. For example, in the excerpt from “The Hundred Headless Woman” Max Ernst wants the reader to draw the connection between the words and the pictures on the page. Basil Bunting’s poems are very simple and straight toward. The reader does not have to work as hard to interpret the meaning of his poems since it is already put forth.
Hear Basil Bunting recite his own poetry gives me an appreciation for his language and the intended meaning of his work. When people read poetry they apply preconceived notions to it. Basil Bunting eliminates this problem when he reads because you see what type of pace, rhythm, and flow he wanted the poem to be read at.
-Paul Gilliland
Basil Bunting poetry is very difficult to read to me. I couldn't understand what the point he was trying get across. He may not have really had an exact point, i dont't know. I already have a hard time analalyzing other poems, but this one is in the top 10. I do not feel like his poems are similar to the other objectivist poetics. I understood the other objectivists poems, they had more a point, more of a meaning to me.
When i listened to the poem, i got a better understanding of it, but i was still not getting it. Maybe next time. ~Kirsten Williams~
I think Bunting’s poetics does differ from some of the artists we have read and looked at for several reasons. Just looking at poems from the same movement as Bunting I found that some of the other poems from the Objectivist movement seemed to tell more of a straightforward story. For example Charles Reznikoff’s “Testimony,” I understood the story and could follow along, while Bunting on the other hand seems to jump from point to point. I had a hard time following the meaning in Bunting’s poetry. I could understand parts of the stanzas, but not usually the whole put together. Bunting, similarly to some of the other poets of the Objectivist movement, used words that you have to pronunciate correctly, or maybe at least read out loud (i.e. “merciless reiteration,” “descry no death”) in order to get the meaning of the poem.
There was a definite difference between reading Bunting’s poems and then hearing him read the poems. You definitely get a better understand of where the pauses and stops are suppose to be when hearing Bunting read, which in turn allows you to better understand what tone the poem is carrying. I still had a hard time deciphering the meaning of his poems, even after listening to one, but all in all it did help. His poetry was definitely meant to be read aloud.
Brianna Smith
In my opinion, Bunting poetry is extremely straight forward and to the point. There was not that mystry for us to figure out. In Bunting's poems, there wasn't any lines be read between lines. To me his poems weren't all that simialr to other poems that we read because all the other poems had deep meanings behind them. To understand the other poems and poets, I had to take note of each stanza just to get the true meaning.
After listening to Bunting read some of his work, I was able to feel and understand his words and expression of the poem. I heard some repetiion and images in the poem.
The comment above is from Tori Hoyle.
1) Bunting's poetry has a much more melodramatic tone and old-world traditional style pose. Much of the poetry we have read or listened to has energy, motion, aims to shock or redefine a movement. Bunting's poetry reminds me of an old man reclining on a rocking chair in the twilight of his years. The man is looking over the rural landscape expressing himself slowly with the gently glide of complex wisdom and natural imagery. Bunting's work is similar to other poets because he wants the reader to pull meaning from the spoken word, the beats, and the motion of sound. The actual words on the page are naked without the sound accompanying their expression. Many of the movements we have studied; dada, futurism, sound poetry, and others place importance on sound and "the music of the words".
2) Reading the poems in the book each reader uses his own interpretation of the flow, melody, speed, and impact of each word and phrase. This can lead to an experience that is missing what the author intended (But an enjoyable one, no the less). Bunting wanted his poems expressed out loud, he declared, "poetry, like music, is to be heard." After listening to Bunting read his poems the words have more volume and more meaning. The slow particular dialect and the crest and dip of the score of his words creates a symphony of Bunting's culture and his genius. So much more is gained and the poetry is much more interesting, dynamic, and engaging. His reading provides music which provides emotion and context to the words.
Matthew Modrow
The readings of Basil Bunting seem to have a lot of meaning because of the language it uses. Its powerful and the language is very descriptive. The reader is intreged in what Bunting writes because he express feeling in a different way. He is not as detailed, keeps his poems to a minimum explination, but even though he gives little explination the reader is able to think outside the box and think deeper because of the language and thats what Buntings whole purpose was. He says "never explain."
Bunting is all about reading the poems out loud because he says one is able to feel the poem more. One is more into the poem and more involved in what is going on. Buntings poems vary, radically,overtime and place this ties into some of what Socialism deals with because Socialism is so radical and different. Bunting also says that the meaning of poetry is purely in sound. He also involves issues that deal with the time period he is writing about. All these things are similar to some of the things we have read but what stands out the most which is different is how Bunting is really into reading out loud because it just livens up the poem in a way that no other poems do. Wendy Pagoaga :)
I enjoy reading poems as well as listening to them , When it comes to analysing poems I would much rather hear the poem read out loud so I could hear the points of emphasis. Basil Bunting doesnt leave much to the imaginaton. I like how when I read and interperet one of the poms from "poems for the millinium" I can imagine what is behind the poem and what it means to me. In conclusion I would much rather have someone read out loud a poem other than a one from Basil Bunting. I believe that it makes it way more interesting. ~brittany snow
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