Open A Critic's 'Poetry Notebook' And Find The Works That Shaped Him
One word of caution: James holds fast to his identity as a formalist, someone who would, at bottom, generally agree with Robert Frost's celebrated dismissal of formless poetry as playing "tennis without a net." So, don't expect any celebrations of the likes of rap or "spoken word poetry" in these pages. Furthermore, James only manages the briefest of nervous nods to those exotic creatures on the margins — female poets like Elizabeth Bishop, Amy Clampitt and Sylvia Plath. Reading Poetry Notebook is like stepping into a popular college seminar circa 1979. You'll learn a lot and be vastly entertained, but be aware that multiculturalism hasn't made much of a dent on James's written-in-stone syllabus.
What you will find in Poetry Notebook are charged, idiosyncratic readings of the classics as well as more recent works by (albeit) male poets you may not have heard of, but will want to dig into, like James's fellow Australian Stephen Edgar and the late American poet, Michael Donaghy. As amusing as his dyspeptic quips always are, James' intellect shines brightest in his role as enthusiast, taking us through works that he loves. Here for instance is a brief, brief poem about World War II by Greenwich Village poet Samuel Menashe, who died in 2011. It's called "Beachhead":
The tide ebbs
From a helmet
Wet sand embeds
"That's the whole poem," James comments, "and there's a whole war in it." He also says about Menashe that "his full force ... is no noisier than a bug hitting your windscreen, except it comes right through the glass."
The same might be said of James' own critical writing here. "Intensity of language" is the crucial ingredient for James, the thing that separates poetry from prose; that distinguishes a glom of words from something that breathes. His own "intensity of language" — in this collection and throughout so much of his life's writing — has validated James's critical authority to pass judgment on the work of others. You may not agree with James's selections in Poetry Notebook or some of his opinions, but I defy anyone not to be moved by these essays in which a great critic reflects on the works that have shaped him, even as, James says, he prepares himself to head off to "the empty regions."
Read an excerpt of Poetry Notebook