Stevie Smith and Her Dancing Girls

Abstract

What constitutes a good Stevie Smith poem? The question bothered the author herself and it can bedevil the reader too, with evaluative quandaries often compounding interpretative ones. Smith's uncertainty about the relative merits of her poems informed publication decisions, and this in turn has resulted in certain compositions being overlooked in critical assessments of her achievement. This article takes as a test-case example a hitherto largely neglected poem, ‘The Ballet of the Twelve Dancing Princesses’, and through sustained close reading makes the case that the poem, unpublished in Smith's lifetime, may be one of her finest pieces. Through an analysis of the poem's cultural and historical context, its manifold ambiguities, its imagery and atmosphere, its coded engagement with the fabular and the strange effects achieved through rhythm and rhyme, the poem is shown to offer a complex, psychologically suggestive response to issues which exercise Smith in many of her poems, including the tension between innocence and knowledge, between the child and the adult, between the capricious and the calculated, and between the ‘frivolous’ and the ‘ominous’. The difficulty of determining how ironically and how seriously Smith engages with some of the latent preoccupations of her poem, such as the power of sorcery and the supernatural, the growth of sexual awareness in young girls and (possibly) the approach of the Second World War, is taken as symptomatic of the tendency of Smith's poems to at once invite and defy exegesis. Taken together, these various concerns and characteristics provide the grounds for considering one of Smith's overlooked poems as one of her most effective. Yet the conclusion seeks to complicate this assessment by cross-questioning the criteria by which Smith's ‘success’ as a poet may be determined.     

Arte Blanco con Motivos Negros: Fernando Ortiz's Concept of Cuban National Culture and Identity

The purpose of this article is to analyze Fernando Ortiz's treatment of the poetic production of the 1920s and 30s movement of Afrocubanismo . The first section explains his belief in a process which would culminate with the consolidation of a mulatto Cuban national identity. It is argued that Ortiz conceived of this process as one which would eliminate what he assumed were pure African forms, which he viewed as primitive and inferior. The second section explores how these notions affected his evaluations of the poetry of the movement. The third section compares Ortiz's methodology in determining identities to what is known in anthropology as an etic perspective. It is argued that Ortiz ascribes mulatto identities to cultural forms without considering the perspectives of their practitioners. The article reaches three main conclusions regarding Ortiz's treatment of afrocubanista poetry. Firstly, that he used it as the confirmation of a process of formation of a mulatto Cuban national identity. Secondly, that he viewed it as a genre which could stylize and make acceptable inferior African cultural forms. Thirdly, that he used it as an instrument through which to dilute conflictive black or African identities.     

Reviews

Stone accepts the genuine motives of those promoting the Holocaust memorial day in Britain, but criticizes the proposal on three counts: first, the day will probably be ignored by large sections of the population, causing sorrow to the survivors and others concerned; second, the working of collective memory means that the efforts that have been made over the last decades to bring the Holocaust to the centre of British culture may come under threat if a single day were to encourage people, as it possibly might, to forget the Holocaust during the rest of the year; and third, the day will act as a convenient opportunity for the government to present itself as morally upright, thereby occluding involvement in contemporary ethnic, religious or other forms of discrimination. Stone argues for a plurality of forms of Holocaust remembrance-in which memory work does not become reduced to homogenized rituals (wreath-laying) or automatically uttered mantras ('never again')-that challenge people to think about just what it is that they are     

论废名诗歌观念的"传统"与"现代"

废名的诗歌观念既"传统"又"现代",代表了1930年代中国新诗艺术尝试的一个方向.与模仿西方诗学的思路不同,废名是将寻求新诗"现代"发展的目光,投向了中国古典诗歌传统,认同晚唐诗所表现出的"诗的内容"和"诗的感觉",从而在观念上超越了胡适等人偏重于从语言形式上划分诗之新旧的思路.同时,废名在创作中实践了晚唐诗深幽婉曲的艺术风格,并将之与其个人独特的禅宗意趣结合起来.废名的诗歌观念承袭了周作人的"文艺复兴"的文学观念,是以"现代"眼光重释和取舍"传统",打破了"传统"与"现代"非此即彼的割裂关系,表现出鲜活的创造力.     

我们需要怎样的新诗史--关于中国新诗史写作的几点思考

重写中国新诗史 ,既要考虑对历史负责 ,又要考虑现实的感受。需要消解惟上是问、惟主流意识形态是问的积弊 ,尽量避免“流变史”式的习惯路数 ,着力强行“引入意义” ,建构谱系。对历史真实的修复 ,对艺术真实的修复 ,对知识分子立场的修复 ,对民间立场的修复 ,对独立、个在的写者立场的修复 ,对新诗之典律的修复 ,当是重写新诗史之必要且合理的基本思路。     

浅析越语歌谣中的六八体歌谣

六八诗体是越语歌谣中最常见、最重要的一种诗体,它独特的押韵规律所表现的语言特色使歌谣更易于吟 唱和记忆,深受劳动人民的喜爱。六八诗体歌谣有着丰富的文化内涵,反映了广大劳动人民的现实生活和理想愿望,是越 南民间文学艺术的一大宝藏。     

殷璠文学史观简论

《河岳英灵集》是唐人选唐诗的选本中最为出色的一部。殷在这个集子中不但择选了最能够代表盛唐诗风的诗作,而且表达了盛唐诗坛所认同和追求的诗学原则和审美理想,以及自己对文学史的评断。其中,主要的就是对六朝绮靡浮艳之风的批判,并将此与恢复风雅之道联系起来,以复古定义革新。他同时也肯定了六朝诗人的长处,并对形成了声律风骨兼备的精神风貌的盛唐诗坛做出了肯定的历史评价。     

论用诗与用《诗》的礼典意义

礼的本体是诗,其精神方式是诗学.诗渗透、积淀在礼的各个环节,并暗暗地决定了礼的存在方式和礼的历史命运.而当诗变成了《诗》,"诗学"变成了"诗教"时,"礼"也变成了"礼教",礼的诗性特征逐渐消失.在礼的诗化进程中,《诗》也逐渐政治、伦理化.用诗与用《诗》的礼典意义贯穿于"礼"的诗化和"诗"的礼乐化双向互动演变的整个过程.     

Australian National Anthologies: A Study of Poems and Poets

This article analyses the contents of fifteen Australian “national” poetry anthologies published between 1946 and 2011. The study has three basic aims: to identify the most anthologised poems (as determined by the greatest number of inclusions in all anthologies), to identify poets with the most poems anthologised, and to identify the poets most consistently represented during this period. Based on quantitative data derived from each anthology’s table of contents, this article provides an empirical and analytical account of Australian national poetry anthologies over a six-decade period. The results reveal a core group of consistently anthologised poems and poets. While each anthology is different, there is a degree of consensus among national anthologists regarding the inclusion of “standard anthology pieces”. This article also considers the role of national anthologies in supporting a hierarchy of established literary reputations and perpetuating a poetic tradition in Australian literature.     

不可模仿的神话——海子及其诗歌解读

在中国当代诗坛,海子常常被评价为"一个诗歌时代的象征",作为20世纪80年代后期新诗潮的代表人物,海子在中国诗坛占有十分独特的地位,他的诗不但影响了一代人的写作,也彻底改变了一个时代的诗歌概念,成为中国诗歌文化的一个重要组成部分。