Conrad Aiken is unjustly neglected as being one of the great 20th century modernist poets. His wonderful longer poems "And in the hanging gardens" and "Tetelestai" are worth finding, and can be recommended especially as pieces which are thoroughly modernistic but more accessible to the general reader than many other modernist poems.
Yeah Aiken writes bangers alright! It’s amazing to me how little of the poetry from the early-1900s in general has been fully appreciated and/or collected - and Aiken is right up there. Cheers for the wonderful comment! Will check out those longer works some time as well. 💜
Omg - I genuinely hadn't noticed - but you're so right! It's really obvious haha. My poetry brain outthinks me every time. Thanks so much for noticing! 💜
I’ve always loved Aiken’s Rimbaud and Verlaine poem, which I came across first in some anthology or other.
The poem about the graveyard here is especially resonant when one knows that his own childhood had unimaginable loss in it.
Thanks for all of these, by the way! Didn’t realize I hadn’t subscribed to the Substack — have fixed that now — and so am catching up on a bunch of them at once.
Conrad Aiken is unjustly neglected as being one of the great 20th century modernist poets. His wonderful longer poems "And in the hanging gardens" and "Tetelestai" are worth finding, and can be recommended especially as pieces which are thoroughly modernistic but more accessible to the general reader than many other modernist poems.
Yeah Aiken writes bangers alright! It’s amazing to me how little of the poetry from the early-1900s in general has been fully appreciated and/or collected - and Aiken is right up there. Cheers for the wonderful comment! Will check out those longer works some time as well. 💜
un
consciously
connective
So much. So little. Ideal.
Thanks so much Kim - that last little bit took the most time to get right so I am really glad it resonated. 💜
Your poem for Conrad Aiken is utterly beautiful, Dick!
Awww thanks so much 💜 means a lot
I love how each stanza of your poem speaks to one of Aiken's poems.
Omg - I genuinely hadn't noticed - but you're so right! It's really obvious haha. My poetry brain outthinks me every time. Thanks so much for noticing! 💜
Isn’t that great when that happens and someone points it out?
Absolutely! 😊
I’ve always loved Aiken’s Rimbaud and Verlaine poem, which I came across first in some anthology or other.
The poem about the graveyard here is especially resonant when one knows that his own childhood had unimaginable loss in it.
Thanks for all of these, by the way! Didn’t realize I hadn’t subscribed to the Substack — have fixed that now — and so am catching up on a bunch of them at once.