Hello readers!
Recently we have been discussing language poet Juliana Spahr’s book This Connection of Everyone with Lungs. Her poetry isn’t typically something that I would actively search for to read, mostly because I enjoy lyric poetry more.
As discussed in class, Spahr’s poetry within this particular book seems to be a mix of lyric poetry and language poetry. Lyric poetry is intimate, personal, and often confessional. It often feels like the reader is listening in on a secret or conversation that was not aimed at them. Language poetry is less about the individual and more about the language and how it can be used. Certain words can be used only for the sound they make order to bring to mind something else. The meaning of the words used is not as important as to how the words are used. It is communal and fairly abstract.
It was a little strange to learn about language poetry, and to see how language poetry diverged from the traditional style of lyric poetry. I found the style to make little sense, even as it was explained to me. However, learning about language poetry has helped me be able to differentiate language poetry from lyrical poetry now.
Of course, that brings questions as to how much of Spahr’s poems within this particular collection has roots in language poetry.
Reading through it again, with what I know now, I can not find many characteristics of language poetry within these poems. Her note also supports the fact that these poems are largely lyric based, having her feelings “made lyric” (13) through them. Despite this, they are still noticeably different from the other poems we have read for class such as Wisława Szymborska’s “Photograph from September 11”. The first poem in Spahr’s collection is where the difference in style is most visible.
In Spahr’s first poem, one she wrote in the aftermath of 9/11, utilizes spacing, punctuation, and run-on sentences. It’s been pointed out in class that these arrangements functioned to make the reader “breathe” with Spahr, especially when reading the poem aloud. Could this be part of language poetry? Along with the impressive amount of repetition, which works to almost detract upon the meaning of the words with its constant re-use, could this way of structuring her sentences be linked to language poetry?
Works Cited:
Spahr, Juliana. This Connection of Everyone with Lungs. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. Print.
Szymborska, Wisława. “Photograph from September 11.” Poetry Foundation. Web. Feb 10, 2016.