POETRY READINGS
Sir,-lIt is in the field of the arts alone that self-appointed critics may do their work of destruction. Whatever reasons Anton Vogt may have had for his letter (Listener, May 11), does he seriously mean by that to stop my readings of New Zealand poetry? The quality of the work of the more recent New Zealand poets seems to me the most astounding feature of this country, and for the past nine years I have tried to make my audiences acquainted with it. (Within the course of a year I have spoken New Zealand verse publicly in Dunedin, Timaru, Christchurch, Blenheim,. Wellington, Levin, Palmerston North; Tauranga and Auckland.) In my broadcast aver 2YC on Anzac Day the themes of the poems ranged from J. S. Bach’s music to the work of the modern French painter Rouault. Is Mr. Vogt justified in calling these "simple descriptions of New Zealand themes?" Or do these poems not rather require a treatment as varied as any works of overseas poets, which Mr. Vogt considers I am perhaps capable of interpreting? I assure him that he himself is quite safe from my "distortions." I am grateful that the poets whose work I value highly think otherwise, The late M. U- Bethell, who-has been acclaimed by responsible critics New Zealand’s first major poet, has honoured me with her handwritten MS of Time and Place after my first reading in Christchurch in August, 1943.
MARIA
DRONKE
(Wellington).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19510525.2.11.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 24, Issue 621, 25 May 1951, Page 5
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242POETRY READINGS New Zealand Listener, Volume 24, Issue 621, 25 May 1951, Page 5
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