User talk:Poetactionboy

Please explain your edits
Hello. Please don't forget to provide an edit summary. Thanks, and happy editing. =Axlq 16:02, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Dear Sir   I see you did substantial amount of revisions on the article of "American Poetry". You seemed to be quite knowledgeable of the steady stream of American poetry history. However you did considerable deletions in the midst of your sequence of revisions. I know that no single person can arbitrarily and objectively make perfect the most accurate account of such a broad subject and article such as American Poetry. I would like to know more about you and why don't you log in and indocrinate a user page. You will no doubt have other users questioning your contributions. You do know when you make drastic revisions you need to have reliable citations to reinforce your objectivity. One has to be watchful not to be too opinionated. I would like to discuss with you for instance why you deleted references to Small press poets and iconclastic poets such as Robert Bly, James Dickey, Robert Peters and other minor maverick poets. You had deleted my entry of including these major poets. It would nice to know more about your arbitrations and who you are. Again it is evident to me you do know the American poetic scenes quite acutely and I do admire your ability of consolidating this article that you took considerable liberty of incorporating your stances on American poetry. You made the article cleaner but it's your deletions of certain writers and movements I'm curious about. Sincerely Pjt48 (talk) 18:20, 22 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Dear Pjt48. Thanks for the kind words. I'm not sure in what sense Robert Bly and James Dickey are "iconoclastic" or "minor mavericks." Bly is probably one of the most influential critics and translators of the last 30 years, and I didn't delete him, but rather re-incorporated him (prominently) into the already existing paragraph about Deep Image poetry. Bly's work on Iron John, while interesting, seems more relevant to self-help than to poetry. And I find it hard to imagine the author of a best-selling "Deliverance," and judge of the Yale Series of Younger Poets, as a maverick. Dickey belongs, I'd argue, in the first paragraph of the Post-War section, with Jarrell and the other soldier-poets of the 40's and 50's. As for Peters, this article was the first I'd ever heard of him -- which may just be a reflection of my own ignorance; he sounds like an interesting and worthwhile poet, and I'll certainly go explore his work. And I would argue that the Small Press poets by their very definition aren't yet prominent enough to warrant attention in an article meant to give the broadest possible outlines of 300+ years of US poetry. But, as I suggested in the article's talk page, the obvious solution is to create a series of sub-articles in which these and related movements might be discussed in proportion to their significance. Does that sound reasonable? Poetactionboy (talk) 16:33, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Hello again Poetactionboy

This was the section that I did that you deleted from the Poetry Article.

"During this time frame there were also major independent voices who defied links to well known poetic movements and forms. Robert Bly became famous for Iron John: A Book About Men and arguably a cultural phenom for liberating American men to be sensitive to their gentler selves. James Dickey became famous for his best selling novel Deliverance, but had already established himself as a poet and literary critic. Robert Peters, greatly influenced by the Victorian English poet Robert Browning’s poetic monologues, became reputable for executing his monologic personae like his Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria into popular one man performances. He, like Dickey, also established himself as an acerbic literary critic. Then there were original minor voices with their own poetic niches, like Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel known as “dust bowl” poet and Alfred Starr Hamilton comparable to the English poet John Clare for being supported by other poets for their genuine poetic gifts."

As you can see I didn't mean to imply That Bly or Dickey were "minor mavericks". I guess my syntax in my last note to you was misleading. The sampling "minor Mavericks" were meant to be applied to "Hamilton" and "McDaniel". I truly appreciate your stance that the Wiki article on "American Poetry" should be similar to fashioning the entry like a standard enclopedia would do in terms of "the broadest possible outlines". I thought my contribution would just be a tad more inclusive with these three well known poets including Robert Peters. I do acknowledge that you did incorporate reference to Bly elsewhere. I also realize as time goes on there will be other wiki contributers editing this article of concern without the "broad possible outlines" in mind. I trust you do have this "Broad" sense of awareness of what it takes for the article to maintain this set standard. I do hope others will join us with discussions of what inclusions to this article would meet the wiki's criteria. Your points are all well taken including your suggestions of "series of sub-articles". I also sense you are fair mindedness in exploring the trends, movements, waves, forms of American poetry and its poets. I just feel there is a place for revisionism when comes to including poetic stuff that may of been excluded from the "broad" standards of inclusion. I appreciate your expertise and again I hope more poetic folks will join us making "American poetry" article first rate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pjt48 (talk • contribs) 18:25, 23 May 2008 (UTC)