The Poet Laureate Poll

I imagine a slightly more interesting poll might be those who didn't want the job (Scott, Morris, Larkin), but I'm voting Betjeman.

I know nothing about Colley Cibber, other than he was murdered in Brighton Rock.

I know too little of these for an English student. My vow to give up reading novels for a year after I graduate and only read poetry is picking up steam with every ilx thread I read these days. Think I'm gonna vote Hughes but I may have to think about it.

Voted Dryden. Would vote for him as my favourite poet on the list anyway (Jonson's close for me), but the best at the actual Laureatey business of writing poems for royal occasions I think.

Poems written by laureates which speak directly to the ilx experience.

No.1 Nymphs And Shepherds by Thomas Shadwell

Nymphs and shepherds, come away.
In the groves let's sport and play,
For this is Flora's holiday,
Sacred to ease and happy love,
To dancing, to music and to poetry;
Your flocks may now securely rove
Whilst you express your jollity.
Nymphs and shepherds, come away.

The Dryden argument above is strong, inescapable in fact, but for that reason I'm going to go for Jonson, cos I like his poetry a bit more.

I like Tennyson's stuff as well, but his unlaureatey (oof) poetry for preference.

Momus brings the challops in Dryden's Secular Masque.

haha

Enter MOMUS Laughing
Ha! ha! ha! Ha! ha! ha!

ftw

I think this will be my new indication that I have found something not unhumourous on the internet.

Purcell set the Shadwell nicely.

Of course it's Dryden. Honourable mentions to; Southey, for being a good target for the Romantic poets, C. Day Lewis for doing a brilliant translation of the Aeneid which is my go-to version, and Andrew Motion for being a nice chap when I met him and also writing well on Edward Thomas (he also loooks like him). Shame about his poetry. As for Carol Anne Duffy, it's like Thatcher being the first female PM.

Tennyson is the best English poet you guys?

not even in your dreams.

Although I agree, his pure Laureateship stuff isn't his greatest. But some of the stuff he wrote once 'o I am England's national poet' had kinda settled in his mind (the Idylls, Queen Mary) is a) absolutely his best and some of the best poetry ever, and b) couldn't have been written without the laureateship.

(xp) Seriously really! Totally interesting things to say combined with an amazing once-in-a-century ear?

(I have never read anyone on the list's actual "O the queen is her carriage" stuff except T's so I don't know what the standard is like)

yeah, i mean he's a wonderful poet. sound yes, substance, not always, but i'll take several poets in his own era over him.

-- And who is the best poet, Heron? asked Boland.

-- Lord Tennyson, of course, answered Heron.

-- O, yes, Lord Tennyson, said Nash. We have all his poetry at home in a book.

At this Stephen forgot the silent vows he had been making and burst out:

-- Tennyson a poet! Why, he's only a rhymester!

-- O, get out! said Heron. Everyone knows that Tennyson is the greatest poet.

-- And who do you think is the greatest poet? asked Boland, nudging his neighbour.

-- Byron, of course, answered Stephen.

Heron gave the lead and all three joined in a scornful laugh.

-- What are you laughing at? asked Stephen.

-- You, said Heron. Byron the greatest poet! He's only a poet for uneducated people.

-- He must be a fine poet! said Boland.

I think the 'ear' thing with Tennyson is a bit overdone tbh. I'll unhelpfully stop there if I may.

I do find myself saying 'Is there anywhere in this damned place I can get a bottle of Bass?' quite a lot though, (his complaint at the Crystal Palace).

Agreed Tennyson a great poet; it's the early stuff, though, that gets me mostly (terrifying what he's done by his mid-20s) - but bursts of it later on, especially shorter lyrics. I have a go at Idylls every now and again, but something isn't working there for me - sound is all in order, but maybe I've just got an Arthurian block. Or his blank verse doesn't work for me at length. I'll take Browning from big Victorians.

But if this is just about laureate poems, I think any of the decent-to-brilliant names after that grim Hanoverian stretch is screwed - the rhetoric of royalty/majesty is wholly fucked, rather than just interestingly broken, as it was in the Jonson/Dryden era.

That said, didn't Hughes just go off on his mystical stuff with it? I read a bit of it a while ago, can't recall much, but that's sort of entertaining. And if I've understood, Motion treated it as PR for poetry, school visits, all that, which is sensible.

I'll take Browning from big Victorians

Hopkins Hopkins HOPKINS

should have made him poet laureate, would have been greatest royal appointment ever

Purcell set the Shadwell nicely.

Also Peter Sellars.

Damn - I mean Sellers.

I know nothing about Colley Cibber, other than he was murdered in Brighton Rock.

― Enemy Insects (NickB), Friday, 1 May 2009 10:01 (2 hours ago) Bookmark

Wasn't Colley Cibber the name of a racehorse in Brighton Rock?

no larkin/no credibility

xp

True. Choosing Hopkins would have been a blinder. Catholic priest who'd published next to nothing for top poetry job. 'Bridges says he's good ma'am'.

(I don't really think of Hopkins as a 'big Victorian', partly because of the publication history, partly because there isn't much of him, compared to Browning & Tenn, even Swinburne. Even if I did I might still go for Browning. I'd have to think about that though.)

xp to myself

he turned it down IIRC ya dumb yank

(as I mentioned in the first post - ahem)

Things the new laureate should not do: 'a poem in rap form'.

got to roll with teddy H

Purcell set the Shadwell nicely.

Dryden wrote the libretto for King Arthur. I got to see a splendid modernized version at Cal Performances danced by the Mark Morris Dance Group.

Wordsworth, no question, for his earlier work. Almost anything after 1810 is....dicey.

No John Skelton, no credibility.

Wordsworth wasn't Poet Laureate till '43, Alfred.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

yeah, larkin is better than any of these (except possibly wordsworth, who's my favorite on the list).

Best thing about polls is challops live forever under the obv correct result