Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 24

A Writer's Moment: 'Never rush the completion process'

A Writer's Moment: 'Never rush the completion process':   “To write a novel is to embark on a quest that is very romantic. People have visions, and the next step is to execute them. That's a v...

A Writer's Moment: 'Forget feelings; just write the poem'

A Writer's Moment: 'Forget feelings; just write the poem':   “The job of the poet is to render the world - to see it and report it without loss, without perversion.   No poet ever talks about feeling...

'Forget feelings; just write the poem'

 

“The job of the poet is to renderthe world - to see it and report it without loss, without perversion.  No poet ever talks about feelings. Onlysentimental people do.” – Mark Van Doren

 

I wrote on Thursday about Van Doren,born on June 13.  A writer (in manygenres), teacher, editor and critic, he considered himself a poet first and wonthe 1940 Pulitzer Prize in poetry, joining older brother Carl (in 1939) as oneof the few sibling combinations to win the award.  For Saturday’sPoem, here is Van Doren’s,

 

                               Morning Worship

Iwake and hearing it raining.

WereI dead, what would I give

Lazilyto lie here,

Likethis, and live?

 

Orbetter yet: birdsong,

Brighteningand spreading --

Howfar would I come then

Tobe at the world's wedding?

 

Nowthat I lie, though,

Listening,living,

(Oh,but not forever,

Oh,end arriving)

 

Howshall I praise them:

Allthe sweet beings

Eternallythat outlive

Meand my dying?

 

Mountains,I mean; wind, water, air;

Grass,and huge trees; clouds, flowers,

Andthunder, and night.

 

Turtles,I mean, and toads; hawks, herons, owls;

Graveyards,and towns, and trout; roads, gardens,

Redberries, and deer.

 

Lightning,I mean, and eagles; fences; snow;

Sunrise,and ferns; waterfalls, serpents,

Greenislands, and sleep.

 

Horses,I mean; butterflies, whales;

Mosses,and stars and gravelly

Rivers,and fruit.

 

Oceans,I mean; black valleys; corn;

Brambles,and cliffs; rock, dirt, dust, ice;

Andwarnings of flood.

 

Howshall I name them?

Andin what order?

Eachwould be first.

Omissionis murder.

 

Maidens,I mean, and apples; needles; leaves;

Worms,and planers, and clover; whirlwinds; dew;

Bulls;geese --

 

Stop.Lie still.

Youwill never be done.

Leavethem all there.

Oldlover. Live on.

A Writer's Moment: Making 'good use' of all life's materials

A Writer's Moment: Making 'good use' of all life's materials:   “I never regret things. It's a really dangerous thing to say, but for anyone involved in the arts, the bad things that happen make for...

Making 'good use' of all life's materials

 

“I never regret things. It's areally dangerous thing to say, but for anyone involved in the arts, the badthings that happen make for good material. It's not a comfortable truth, but itis true.” – Antony Sher

 

Born in South Africa on this date in1949, Sher was an actor, painter and writer who twice won the prestigiousLaurence Oliver Award for his stage portrayals.  He also appeared inmany movies and on TV, and wrote numerous novels, essays, memoirs and scriptsfor both the stage and screen.   

 

Among Sher’s best-known books werethe memoirs Year of the King and Woza Shakespeare:Titus Andronicus in South Africa; his autobiography Beside Myself;and the novels Middlepost, Cheap Lives and TheFeast.  Among his many award-winning plays were Primo –also adapted as a film – and The Giant, portraying Michelangelo atthe time of the creation of his masterpiece sculpture David. His Year of the Mad King won the 2019 Theatre Book Prize fromthe British Society for Theatre Research.

 

Shortly before his death (in 2021),Sher was honored by Queen Elizabeth for his lifetime contributions to the arts and said that while he sometimes made his work look effortless, it was far fromit.

 

“Every play I do, every book Iwrite, every painting I paint, I struggle with.  I don’t know whatit’s like for a project to come easy.”  

'The art of assisting discovery'

 

“The art of teaching is the art ofassisting discovery.” – Mark Van Doren

 

Born in Illinois on June 13, 1894 Van Doren was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, writer and critic, and oneof the nation’s leading scholars during a 40-year career as Professor ofEnglish at Columbia University. There he inspired a generation of influentialwriters and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman,Whittaker Chambers, and Beat Generation writers such as Allen Ginsberg and JackKerouac.  

 

He was the author of 12 books ofpoetry, 3 novels, and 17 nonfiction books – which included the definitive MarkVan Doren on the Great Poems of Western Literature.  Published in 1962, it is considered by mostscholars to be one of the great resource books of the 20th Century.   

 

Outside the classroom, Van Doren served as literary editor of The Nation magazine for many years and was an influential film critic there from 1935 to 1938.

 

“(Always) bring ideas in andentertain them royally,” Van Doren advised his students,  “for one ofthem may become the king.”

A Writer's Moment: 'The art of assisting discovery'

A Writer's Moment: 'The art of assisting discovery':   “The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.”  – Mark Van Doren   Born in Illinois on June 13, 1894 Van Doren was a Pulitze...

A Writer's Moment: 'Reading, and living, multiple lives'

A Writer's Moment: 'Reading, and living, multiple lives':   “A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.”  – William ...

'Reading, and living, multiple lives'

 

“A great book should leave you withmany experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives whilereading it.” – William Styron

Born in Virginia on this date in 1925, Styron started his publishing career asa book editor right after graduating from Duke University in 1947.  But, it quickly became apparent to him thatbeing an editor was not what he wanted.   So,he set about writing his first novel and three years later published, LieDown in Darkness, a multi-award winning story about a dysfunctionalVirginia family (who some thought reflected on his own growing up years). 

 

After a stint in the Marine Corpsduring the Korean War he wrote a short novel The Long March thenmoved to Europe in 1953 where he helped found the magazine Paris Review,still a celebrated literary journal more than 70 years later.

 

Styron wrote 15 novels, the best-knownand most awarded being Sophie’s Choice, which also won anAcademy Award for actress Meryl Streep after being adapted into a movie.  Winnerof the National Book Award, it cemented his reputation as one of the 20thcentury’s great novelists.  Despite his many successes, he battleddebilitating depression and called writing a catharsis for overcoming it.    

 

 "I get a fine warmfeeling when I'm doing well, but that pleasure is pretty much negated by thepain of getting started each day,” he said.  “Let's face it, writingis hell.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Accepting the anesthetic with confidence'

A Writer's Moment: 'Accepting the anesthetic with confidence':   “A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life. With a novelis...