A Lecture on Modern Poetry
Encyclopedia
A Lecture on Modern Poetry was a paper by T. E. Hulme
which was read to the Poets' Club
around the end of 1908
. It is a concise statement of Hulme's influential advocacy of free verse
. The lecture was not published during Hulme's lifetime.
The lecture commences with an apparent attack on the attitudes of some members of the Club, including its president Henry Simpson
. Hulme writes: "I want to speak of verse in a plain way as I would of pigs: that is the only honest way. The President told us last week that poetry was akin to religion. It is nothing of the sort."
Hulme discusses how forms rise and fall, and proceeds to the topic of French vers libre, referring to Gustave Kahn
's explanation of the technique: "It consisted in a denial of a regular number of syllables as the basis of versification. The length of the line is long and short, oscillating with the images used by the poet; it follows the contours of his thought and is free rather than regular."
Hulme concludes with a call to arms: "a shell is a very suitable covering for the egg at a certain period of its career, but very unsuitable at a later age. This seems to me to represent fairly well the state of verse at the present time. ... [it] has become alive, it has changed from the ancient art of chanting to the modern impressionist, but the mechanism of verse has remained the same. It can't go on doing so. I will conclude, ladies and gentlemen, by saying, the shell must be broken."
T. E. Hulme
Thomas Ernest Hulme was an English critic and poet who, through his writings on art, literature and politics, had a notable influence upon modernism.-Early life:...
which was read to the Poets' Club
Poets' Club
The Poets' Club was a group devoted to the discussion of poetry. It met in London in the early years of the twentieth century. It was founded by Henry Simpson, a banker. T. E. Hulme helped set up the group in 1908, and was its first secretary....
around the end of 1908
1908 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Ezra Pound leaves America for Europe...
. It is a concise statement of Hulme's influential advocacy of free verse
Free verse
Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern.Poets have explained that free verse, despite its freedom, is not free. Free Verse displays some elements of form...
. The lecture was not published during Hulme's lifetime.
The lecture commences with an apparent attack on the attitudes of some members of the Club, including its president Henry Simpson
Henry Simpson (Poets' Club founder)
Dr Henry Simpson was a banker and the founder and president of the Poets' Club in London in 1908.-Sources:* Jewel Spears Brooker, Mastery and Escape: T S Elliot, University of Massachusetts Press, 1996, ISBN 1-55849-040-X. *...
. Hulme writes: "I want to speak of verse in a plain way as I would of pigs: that is the only honest way. The President told us last week that poetry was akin to religion. It is nothing of the sort."
Hulme discusses how forms rise and fall, and proceeds to the topic of French vers libre, referring to Gustave Kahn
Gustave Kahn
Gustave Kahn was a French Symbolist poet and art critic.Kahn was born in Metz.He claimed to have invented the term vers libre, or free verse; he was in any case one of the first European exponents of the form. His principal publications include Les Palais nomades, 1887, Domaine de fée, 1895, and...
's explanation of the technique: "It consisted in a denial of a regular number of syllables as the basis of versification. The length of the line is long and short, oscillating with the images used by the poet; it follows the contours of his thought and is free rather than regular."
Hulme concludes with a call to arms: "a shell is a very suitable covering for the egg at a certain period of its career, but very unsuitable at a later age. This seems to me to represent fairly well the state of verse at the present time. ... [it] has become alive, it has changed from the ancient art of chanting to the modern impressionist, but the mechanism of verse has remained the same. It can't go on doing so. I will conclude, ladies and gentlemen, by saying, the shell must be broken."
Sources
- Patrick McGuinness (editor), T. E. Hulme: Selected Writings, Fyfield Books, Carcanet Press, 1998. ISBN 1-85754-362-9