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Kevin Kiely <[log in to unmask]>
Mon, 22 Sep 2014 12:53:51 +0100
text/plain (113 lines)
Hello Tim,

I am informally mid-work replying and say thanks for your honesty in
response.

I don't think anyone would wish to raise obloquy to Mr S. H. because of his
genuine 'Mr Nice Guy' image. Me neither.

You will well know that Shakespeare's dedicatee remains anonymous as Mr W.
H. 'the onlie begetter'; and this shares, with what I see as Mr S. H.s
anonymity in poetry, though SH has a conspicuous reputation which requires
sharper-analysis rather than the usual hosannas.  I shouldn't add here but
do: what would EP have thought of SH? It's 'what if' in any event.

SH's Frost (Robt.) obsession is provable and explains his subject matter,
if one can call it a subject-matter that matters, since SH is utterly 'down
on the farm' using subject matter more suitable to popular musicals as in
'Oklahoma', 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' and 'Calamity Jane' - I am
being deliberately facetious and serious in mentioning these 3. Seamus is
stuck in the farmyard and not certainly with Dylan Thomas's dexterity on
the farmyard of eternal childhood. One may as well add to the ludicrous and
say that good fences make bad poets. I obviously do not mean Thomas.

SH's 'Digging' is a frightful piece of trash-verse and reflects more on
those who admire it than SH and his willful buckets of nostalgia.

While I can look into Frost (rarely): I have no obsession with his poetry.
SH had such a Frost obsession. O heck!

My article in 'Village' I stand over and wonder what other publication
would have ever printed it.

What is the history of criticism of poetry? It must be and is hierarchy
eventually, as Eliot, Lowell and all fair-minded poets and critics of those
high slopes show in their work including their criticism; Mr S. H. could
not abide Emily Dickinson and certainly not the Modernists, if anyone takes
the time to look into his own comments on them, and his begrudging Yeats is
clearly shown in his comments.

Look the weather is fine here today. Hope you have fair weather where you
are, and that the year is progressing favourably. I am on the side of
poetry. SH would have been just as transparent writing snippets of Nature
Notes and verse for Outdoors Magazines.

Best Wishes,

KevinK



On Sun, Sep 21, 2014 at 11:26 PM, Timothy Redman <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I agree.
>
> Cordially,
>
> Tim Redman
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Roxana Preda" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 2, 2014 1:42:26 PM
> Subject: Re: Article on Seamus H
>
> Dear all,
>
> There are a lot of Heaney enthusiasts among us, I am sure and Kevin's
> barbs will hurt enough to push them to discussion. If you follow the
> link to his article, as I did, you will see the comment box under the
> text.
>
> However, I think that on this list we should stick to Pound - there
> are plenty of controversial topics to discuss and lots of advertising
> to do re our work on old EP.
>
> Cheers,
> Roxana
>
> Quoting Kevin Kiely <[log in to unmask]> on Mon, 1 Sep 2014 12:40:37
> +0100:
>
> > Dear Roxana,
> >
> > I wish to alert members of the Pound List and on your website to an
> article
> > of mine on Seamus Heaney in 'Village Magazine' (Ireland).
> >
> > http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2014/08/5960/
> >
> >
> >
> >    1. Kevin Kiely puts boot into Seamus Heaney
> >    <http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2014/08/5960/comment-page-1/
> >
> >    Village ‎- 1 day ago
> >    After his death last year the Independent newspaper describedSéamus
> >    Heaney as “probably the best-known poet in the world”. According to
> ...
> >
> >
> > Kind Regards & Best Wishes as Autumn/Fall arrives,
> >
> > Kevin Kiely PhD
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
>

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