"It preserves language, and it can only do it in one way—through pleasure, because we want to remember those phrases. That's the only way language can be preserved, because we want it. Because we continue to want it. Even if we don't know what it means anymore, we still want it."
That's Kay Ryan, U.S. poet laureate, talking about poetry in an interview I did with her for Chapter 16. She had a lot of fascinating things to say, which you can read here. It's a big week for dialogue at the site--in addition to the Q&A with Ryan, there are interviews with Eric Schlosser and Juan Williams. Go to the home page to see it all.
The Reading Lesson, Emile Munier (1840-95)
1 comment:
Great interview, Maria. I enjoyed every word. And it's left me thinking about poetic language and what it does to me. The way certain strings of words sound holy. I'd say more, but I'm feeling a bit toasted right now. Anyway, nice work. Thanks.
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