After reading 12-1/2 chapters of “A” by Louis Zukofsky, I’m convinced Zukofsky must have been a lunatic. Only such a person could have spent an entire life on a work such as “A”.
I’m sure “A” has some literary value, but in large part it is a mad rambling. Zukofsky has the ability to make me [...]
Yesterday I announced I was reading Louis Zukofsky’s “A”. The poem is decidedly written in the mode of free verse – most parts of it anyway. But imagine my surprise when, at the end of Part 8, I’m reading along and happen upon a Ballade. Right in the middle of the poem.
Zukofsky was a Modernist. [...]
To what extent do you make an attempt to understand a poet’s purposes? Or should you?
I suspect that many readers do not take the time to understand a particular poet’s poetic, or weltanschauung, before delving into a reading experience. But I think in many cases, they should.
I recently had a copy of Louis Zukofsky’s “A” [...]