Basil Bunting’s Lectures on Poetic Origins – 4

August 18, 2016admin

[Basil Bunting (1900-1985) – Photograph by Derek Smith]

Allen Ginsberg’s remarks on Basil Bunting’s lectures continues – see here, here and here

AG: So Louis Zukofsky, in modern times, was the most subtle person working with different measures and with a pure relation between musical forms and quantitative count and he was saying that the madrigal distorts words (because you’ve got several lines at once) and so words are not allowed to take whatever stress is appropriate to them in the madrigal. But in chanting, words are allowed to take whatever stress is appropriate to them. That’s … Read More

Basil Bunting’s Lectures on Poetic Origins – 1

August 15, 2016admin

[Basil Bunting (1900-1985)]

AG: Some of the ideas that (Basil) Bunting was laying out, I would like to lay out here because they’re just very interesting. He was saying that, first of all, English poetry was sung up until the 17th century. All the poets wrote for singing including, of all people, John Donne! – Donne was sung. He was put to music by a fellow named Ferrabosco of that era (do you know anything about that?) – Well, apparently Donne was actually sung. Donne is usually taught nowadays as if he… you know.. he has one or two … Read More