Comments on: Ode to the Confederate Dead – An Execrably Bad Poem http://booksfilmandmusic.com/2008/01/10/ode-to-the-confederate-dead-a-criminally-bad-poem/ Civil War History and General Commentary on Issues of Import or Not. Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:34:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tertium Quid http://booksfilmandmusic.com/2008/01/10/ode-to-the-confederate-dead-a-criminally-bad-poem/comment-page-1/#comment-148 Tertium Quid Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:48:44 +0000 http://booksfilmandmusic.com/2008/01/10/ode-to-the-confederate-dead-a-criminally-bad-poem/#comment-148 It is an obscure poem to say the least, and I must say I wouldn't know what he was talking about if he had not written an essay about it. It reminds of what Waylon Jennings said, "If we need a video to explain what a country song means, it is no longer country." It is an obscure poem to say the least, and I must say I wouldn’t know what he was talking about if he had not written an essay about it.

It reminds of what Waylon Jennings said, “If we need a video to explain what a country song means, it is no longer country.”

]]> By: Douglas Graebner http://booksfilmandmusic.com/2008/01/10/ode-to-the-confederate-dead-a-criminally-bad-poem/comment-page-1/#comment-92 Douglas Graebner Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:12:28 +0000 http://booksfilmandmusic.com/2008/01/10/ode-to-the-confederate-dead-a-criminally-bad-poem/#comment-92 Don't get so hung up on the title. If you read the poem without looking for somthing, one qickly realizes that Tate is not intrested in writing about the glorious deeds of the confederate dead. He is useing this to discuss the impernamency of memory-look at how the markers are decaying with the bodies, how the stone is being wiped clean. Look at how it takes place in autumn. Within this scheme, to attempt a ode to ,say, the glory of pickett's charge, would not just be pointless but would fly in the face of what the poet is trying to accomplish. Don’t get so hung up on the title. If you read the poem without looking for somthing, one qickly realizes that Tate is not intrested in writing about the glorious deeds of the confederate dead. He is useing this to discuss the impernamency of memory-look at how the markers are decaying with the bodies, how the stone is being wiped clean. Look at how it takes place in autumn. Within this scheme, to attempt a ode to ,say, the glory of pickett’s charge, would not just be pointless but would fly in the face of what the poet is trying to accomplish.

]]> By: Ericka Aguilar http://booksfilmandmusic.com/2008/01/10/ode-to-the-confederate-dead-a-criminally-bad-poem/comment-page-1/#comment-55 Ericka Aguilar Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:46:34 +0000 http://booksfilmandmusic.com/2008/01/10/ode-to-the-confederate-dead-a-criminally-bad-poem/#comment-55 Ironically I just spent an hour and a half discussing the current and future state of American poetry in my Poetics class. I very much agree that modern poetry is a landscape dotted sparsely with excellent, moving pieces and mostly populated with grimy intellectual pretense. The poem itself is all in all forced. I think that Tate had a few lines, or a few images in his head and he used those few good things to create a poem that is ultimately more about his language than substance and you are right to say that it does a terrible injustice to the dead and what they died for. I will confess that I am a poet but I detest the state of my craft and those who continue the cannibalistic style of academic writing. I'm going to share something here thats been sitting in my head for awhile. People who call themselves poets solely disgust and infuriate me. A poet, or a writer in general, is not much more than an observer. Whether we include our observations in the meat o the text or merely react to them that open eye is crucial. How can a writer do any subject, even herself, justice by living in the cloistered world of academics? The world must be seen, terrible and beautiful as it is to be written about and this naiveté's is the rotten core of American poetry. Ah, forgive the rant, bravo on the article. Ericka Ironically I just spent an hour and a half discussing the current and future state of American poetry in my Poetics class. I very much agree that modern poetry is a landscape dotted sparsely with excellent, moving pieces and mostly populated with grimy intellectual pretense.
The poem itself is all in all forced. I think that Tate had a few lines, or a few images in his head and he used those few good things to create a poem that is ultimately more about his language than substance and you are right to say that it does a terrible injustice to the dead and what they died for.
I will confess that I am a poet but I detest the state of my craft and those who continue the cannibalistic style of academic writing. I’m going to share something here thats been sitting in my head for awhile.
People who call themselves poets solely disgust and infuriate me. A poet, or a writer in general, is not much more than an observer. Whether we include our observations in the meat o the text or merely react to them that open eye is crucial. How can a writer do any subject, even herself, justice by living in the cloistered world of academics?
The world must be seen, terrible and beautiful as it is to be written about and this naiveté’s is the rotten core of American poetry.

Ah, forgive the rant, bravo on the article.

Ericka

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