Poets & Writers Magazine welcomes feedback from its readers. Please post a comment on select articles at www.pw.org/magazine, e-mail editor@pw.org, or write to Editor, Poets & Writers Magazine, 90 Broad Street, Suite 2100, New York, NY 10004. Letters accepted for publication may be edited for clarity and length.
DONNE’S DARK DIVINITY
I was
"blasted
with sighs, and surrounded with tears," to quote one of John Donne's
poems, as
I finished William Giraldi's article "The Art of Reading John Donne:
Sick
Genius of Remorse" (March/April 2010). Never in the many years I've
taught
Donne's "Holy Sonnets" have I come across a piece about them that so
shook my
heart. The philologists and the critics may make their brilliant
comments on
the poetry of Donne, but Giraldi has risen above what I call commonplace
criticism. Together with the poet, he experienced the "frightening
collision of
opposites," and I, along with both of them, have recognized that in
poetry lies
the deepest reality, whether it be filled with anguish or ecstasy or
both
simultaneously.
CHARLOTTE OTTEN
Grand Rapids, Michigan
LABOR BEFORE LAURELS
In response to Jonathan Scott's letter
taking issue
with Poets &
Writers
Magazine's coverage of writers holding advanced degrees
(Letters,
March/April 2010), I'd add that some of us who gained "competitive
advantage" by
going to grad school gained it by working damn hard. People who want to
succeed
usually find a way to do just that. They don't whine and make
excuses—they
just keep grinding. I scrubbed toilets for two years to pay for school.
I'm not
scrubbing them now.
DENNIS KOERS
Gwinn, Michigan
WHY WE WRITE
I
applaud the publication of "Why We Write: The Art of Perseverance" by
Cecilia
Ward Jones (January/February 2010). Her contributor's note states:
"Cecilia
Ward Jones is a writer living in Austin, Texas." That's all? "Oh, how
self-consciously coy of her, not wanting all her publishing and/or
academic
credentials listed," I thought. "Of course she has such credentials or Poets
& Writers Magazine would not
be publishing her essay." Then I read the first two paragraphs
and was shocked to find out she was an unpublished writer. How
refreshing! I
haven't seen such a thing—an article about the writing experience by
someone
who is (was) unpublished—in a magazine before. Good for you—and good
for her.
JEFFREY KINGMAN
Vallejo,
California
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BLOCK
Thanks for Dennis Cass's article "How to Get
Unstuck:
The Psychology of Writer's Block" (January/February 2010). Articles
about
writer's block ordinarily make me want to crawl under the couch, as most
lack
any concrete tools for unblocking. And I'm afraid the "writing down the
bones"
approach doesn't really address the complexity of the creative process.
Cass's
article does, however, and it is refreshing, interesting, and helpful.
I'm
fascinated by his articulation of divergent and convergent thinking, and
as a
writer and teacher, I will use these more nuanced ideas about generating
material
both for myself and with my students.
TANYA WHITON
Portland, Maine
Cass's article reminds me of an essential
element of
creativity in adult life: play. Friedrich Schiller wrote brilliantly on
the
subject of play in On
the
Aesthetic Education of Man (1795). Adults, Schiller insisted,
must
maintain their ability to play because "man only plays when he is, in
the
fullest sense...a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he
plays."
Schiller advanced the notion that human beings must play with ideas,
symbols,
objects, and the universe to develop their art, as well as to integrate
thoughts and emotions to maturity and "dare to be wise." Many thanks to Poets & Writers Magazine
for encouraging us writers to keep playing.
JACKIE ZOLLO BROOKS
Gloucester, Massachusetts
[CORRECTIONS]
A circumflex accent instead of a hacek was mistakenly used in Jaromír
Horec's
name in In Memoriam (March/April 2010). Sam Lipsyte's hometown is
Closter, New
Jersey, not Demarest, as stated in "Failure's Fortune" by Frank Bures
(March/April 2010). In "The Espy Foundation: Oysterville, Washington"
(March/April 2010), Marc Nieson's contributor's note incorrectly stated
that
his memoir is forthcoming from the University of Wisconsin Press. The
book has
not yet been accepted for publication.