Quote:
Originally posted by Maryann Corbett:
Perhaps we can blame it on the tendencies of English lit syllabi, which stress only what's Historically Important, what comes to constitute a Movement. For the last century, until New Formalism, rhyme hasn't been part of "a movement." It's been "what was left behind". A survey-course familiarity with modern poetry--which is all most students of literature have--could leave one with the idea that it was something to pass beyond, a thing we weren't supposed to enjoy any more.
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Maryann wrote most of what I was about to. I think that her hypothesis explains why some people excuse rhyme in pre-Modernist poetry and scorn later instances: Earlier poets, the thinking might go, just didn't know any better. Sort of how some of us will forgive very, very old people for their uncomfortable views on, say, gay people. It's worth noting that, ultimately, to proffer this sort of excuse is to practice a type of polite condescension.
Anyway. I also wanted to share an unrelated anecdote. I went to a Kay Ryan reading a week or two ago. (An amazing reading, by the way; anyone who has the chance to hear her, should.) During the Q&A that followed, she got to talking about rhyme, and in the discussion, mentioned that she finds end rhyme "paralyzingly funny."
At the same time, subscribers to
Poetry have seen her write
quite a
bit about Frost, so who knows.