NOT UNDERSTOOD
Sir,-Although a’ parody, the poem "Not Understood" by A. R. D. Fairburn in a recent Listener has hit the nail on the head, and, we hope, into the coffin of the blankety-blank blank verse which a certain clique of word meddlers has put before the public as poetry during the past ten years. Several recent pointers suggest that at last this spate of rhymeless, scansionless, jerky, unintelligible jargon which ‘has passed for poetry, is coming to an end. It may have ended earlier had the critics banded together and been more vociferous. Those who appreciate intelligible verse, say the whimsical, wry subtleties of Arnold Wall or the ballads of natural poets such as Lester Masters, have been very patient. They have been patient with the editors who have printed the modern stuff and with the poets, some of whom have had
the nerve to read their tangled word groupings over the air, or at public readings. I have, however, not heard that at the readings the poets have also explained in plain words what such poems meant, However, the modern arrangementartists have not used up all our words yet, although they have twisted some of them pretty badly. Surely there are some poets with eyes to see and ears to hear who will interpret life today, whether humorously, nobly, or even cynically if they wish, in a way that we can understand.
BERNARD
TEAGUE
(Wairoa).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570315.2.16.6
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 918, 15 March 1957, Page 11
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237NOT UNDERSTOOD New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 918, 15 March 1957, Page 11
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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