Fourteen on Form: Conversations with Poets

by William Baer

Poets
Willis Barnstone
Robert Conquest
Wendy Cope
Douglas Dunn
Anthony Hecht
John Hollander
Donald Justice
X. J. Kennedy
Maxine Kumin
Frederick Morgan
John Frederick Nims
W. D. Snodgrass
Derek Walcott
Richard Wilbur When free verse and its many movements seemed to dominate poetry, other writers worked steadfastly, insistently, and majestically in traditional forms of rhyme and meter. Such poets as Anthony Hecht, Donald Justice, Derek Walcott, and Richard Wilbur utilized sonnets, villanelles, blank verse, and many other forms to create dazzling, lasting work. Their writing posed a counterpoint to free verse, sustained a tradition in English language verse, and eventually inspired the movement called New Formalism. Fourteen on Conversations with Poets collects interviews with some of the most influential poets of the last fifty years. William Baer, editor of The Formalist , asks incisive questions that allow writers to discuss in detail a wide range of topics related to their work, methods of composition, and the contemporary poetry scene. Maxine Kumin reflects on being a woman poet during a period in which women were not encouraged to submit to journals. With clarity and passion, Walcott remembers the impetus of his famous "Eulogy to W. H. Auden." British poet Wendy Cope talks about the differences between how her barbed poems are received in England and abroad. The conversations return continually to the serious matter of poetic craft, especially the potential power of form in poetry. These well-paced conversations showcase poets discussing their creative lives with insight and candor. The sum total of their forthright opinions in Fourteen on Form not only elucidates the current situation of the art form, but it also serves as a primer for understanding the fundamental craft of poetics.

Genres: Poetry

276 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2004

About the author

William Baer, a recent Guggenheim fellow, is the award-winning author of twenty-five books including New Jersey Noir; Times Square and Other Stories; One-and-Twenty Tales; Companion; The Ballad Rode into Town; Formal Salutations: New & Selected Poems; Classic American Films; and The Unfortunates (recipient of the T.S. Eliot Award). A former Fulbright in Portugal, he’s also received the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award and a Creative Writing Fellowship in fiction from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Reviews

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a set of interviews done by William Baer, who appears to be a somewhat grumpy man who is annoyed that so many poets have abandoned meter and rhyme in favour of other ways of writing poetry. (I, myself, do not have a strong opinion about this, except that I am always dubious when a culturally powerful middle-aged white man rails against the changes that make him a less effective gatekeeper.) He interviews fourteen well-established poets, all of whom still use traditional poetic forms, and although there's a little bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth about Young Poets in each of the interviews, I enjoyed them very much. I have not read most of the poets he interviews (aside from Wendy Cope), so I could not connect what they said to their work, but for me that makes it all the more enjoyable, as I caught glimpses of many interesting things and began to slowly build my understanding of what these various authors think that poetry is and does, and what critics can do for poetry. I am going to give them all a try, sooner or later.

[Sash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely some gems in here, but as a young writer of poetry who really does want to learn the craft from the masters it was disheartening how much of this was just an condemnation of young poets and our practices without much thought on what we could be doing better!

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some gem moments in the Wilbur, Snodgrass, and Hollander interviews, though the book suffers from repetition--Baer asks each poet many of the same questions re:the advantages of form, their writing process, and (the worst interview question ever) the poets' opinions regarding the proliferation of MFA programs. Obviously it helps to be familiar with each of the poets' work, but this is a book to skim and put down and pick up again. About 1/3 of each interview is about form, 1/3 is anecdotal, and the other 1/3 is elucidating the relationships between x poet and y and z poet. Sometimes fascinating, sometimes not.