July 1st, 2009 / 4:51 pm
 Snippets
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Ange Mlinko has had it up to here with all the Frederick Seidel-worship.

The stacked rhymes and deadpan singsong rhythms have nothing in common with Ezra Pound’s Cantos, for instance, which Seidel cites as a formative influence. Pound’s metrical range was matched by his emotional range; Seidel has one rhythmic brand (and I use the word advisedly) for all emotional registers. You simply can’t say that of Baudelaire, or Dante. Both Flowers of Evil and the Inferno are exquisitely beautiful works. No matter how bleak or violent, they don’t hurt your ears musically. Yet Seidel’s champions consistently and disingenuously transform his aesthetic weaknesses into virtues.

9 Comments

  1. July 1st, 2009 / 9:42 pm Rauan—

      Seidel is a bit of a one-trick pony.

      Funny to see all this hailing and coronation and whatnot because in many poetry circles (o how wide and powerful these circles are) Seidel’s an unknown.

      and, like Ange Mlinko I recommend Ooga-Booga

  2. July 1st, 2009 / 5:42 pm Rauan—

      Seidel is a bit of a one-trick pony.

      Funny to see all this hailing and coronation and whatnot because in many poetry circles (o how wide and powerful these circles are) Seidel’s an unknown.

      and, like Ange Mlinko I recommend Ooga-Booga

  3. July 2nd, 2009 / 2:47 am Matt Cozart—

      It’s one good trick though.

  4. July 1st, 2009 / 10:47 pm Matt Cozart—

      It’s one good trick though.

  5. July 2nd, 2009 / 2:48 am Nathan (Nate) Tyree—

      It’s not bad. I think I’ll get tired of it

  6. July 1st, 2009 / 10:48 pm Nathan (Nate) Tyree—

      It’s not bad. I think I’ll get tired of it

  7. July 2nd, 2009 / 5:25 am RC Miller—

      Interesting and relevant post Justin. While I appreciate the criticism folks express toward Seidel’s verse, for me it is refreshing to read a poet totally uninterested in being taken seriously. The enigma Seidel creates through poetry is frightening and profound.

  8. July 2nd, 2009 / 1:25 am RC Miller—

      Interesting and relevant post Justin. While I appreciate the criticism folks express toward Seidel’s verse, for me it is refreshing to read a poet totally uninterested in being taken seriously. The enigma Seidel creates through poetry is frightening and profound.

  9. July 3rd, 2009 / 4:31 pm HTMLGIANT / Frederick Seidel Redux: In Which We Attend to Some Cart-Before-Horse Issues We Were Having—

      […] the other day I linked to Ange Mlinko’s Seidel piece at The Nation website, where she comes down pretty hard on Frederick Seidel, as well as a number of […]