1) Why books of poetry instead of individual poems? What is the value of a project book versus a collection of poems? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? How do first book contests influence this trend towards books with a gimmick?
2) In the first article, “The Winnowing of Wildness: On First Book Contests and Style,” Beth Ann Fennelly begins her musings on poetic development and style by comparing poets to chefs. Poets are expected to master their craft in the few years that they are in school; chefs have ten years to master their craft, and another ten to come up with an individual style. First book contests increase the pressure on young poets to come up with something unified – a book with a gimmick – since such books often have a better chance of winning a first book contest. Thus younger poets learn to quell diversity in their own developing voices. Fennelly believes that if this process continues, poetry will begin to lack a diversity of voices. In the second article, “Warning, Witness, Presence” Eavon Boland also warns of the dangers of the first book contest. The first half of the article details a classic question: what is the responsibility of the poet? The second half details what Boland feels is the unavoidable responsibility of poets in the present day, which is to assist the development of the art form of poetry and to guard its environment. The first book is a dying breed, which is an example in the changes in poetry. Poets still publish a first book, but Boland, like Fennelly, laments the lack of stylistic adventure in the books that are published because of first book contests. Poets do not have the opportunity to slowly develop a style; they are rushed into it and forced through a process that may not really be beneficial for them.
3) Though it becomes slightly off of the topic that I’m looking at, these two articles explore the some of the motivation behind the trend of gimmick books. They clearly point out some of the disadvantages of this style of book writing.
I have always wondered how poets are able to do that, i think that a whole "gimmick book" would diminish creativity and poetic quality for the writer. -Kam
ReplyDeleteHow do you enter a First Book contest? Is there a point since the number of books printed/sold is so low?
ReplyDelete--Cameron