E.P. used to say that ULYSSES, THE APES OF GOD (by Wyndham Lewis) and EIMI
(by E.E. Cummings) should not be used as models by a young novelist.
He was very careful to make it clear that he was not underestimating the
value of these novels, but only saying that they were not useful models.
 
I think that the same thing might be said of The Cantos.  A few poets may
write long poems modeled on the Cantos, but these will always be
anamolous, in my opinion.
 
When we talk about the influence of The Cantos on living poets, I think
we need to be clear about whether we are thinking of the Cantos as a long
poem, or as a collection of poems.  I think that it is when we think of
it as a collection (where many of the individual poems are shorter than
one Canto) that we really see the way in which it has changed modern
poetry.
 
But then I'm no authority on poetry, contemporary or otherwise.  If
others disagree, I'd like to hear from them.
 
--Lee Lady