{"id":899,"date":"2012-01-19T13:49:47","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T17:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=899"},"modified":"2013-12-18T19:51:27","modified_gmt":"2013-12-18T23:51:27","slug":"mcnair-to-hall-october-12-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/mcnair-to-hall-october-12-1977\/","title":{"rendered":"McNair to Hall: October 12, 1977"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"Page-1-McNair-to-Hall-10-12-1977\"<\/a>\"Page-2-McNair-to-Hall-10-12-1977\"<\/a>\"Page-3-McNair-to-Hall-10-12-1977\"<\/a>\"Page-4-McNair-to-Hall-10-12-1977\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

12 October, 1977<\/p>\n

Dear Don —<\/p>\n

I was delighted to hear from you. Letters from the States
\nare special things here, and letters from you the more so.<\/p>\n

Your indefatigable revisions of \u201cStone Walls\u201d give me
\nstrength for my own revisions. I agree with what Bly says
\n[Written in margin:<\/em> in Contemporary Poets<\/span>]…
\nabout the \u201cabsolutely genuine\u201d character of your best poems \u2013
\neven though I bridle at his appreciation of that \u201cTheory of
\nThe Three brains\u201d to your work. And<\/span> I\u2019m convinced that
\n\u201cStone Walls\u201d will soon be<\/span> one of your best poems, ranking
\nwith, say, \u201cFlies\u201d. I would like very much to see it when
\nyou think it\u2019s finished. And do send \u201cTraffic\u201d, too.<\/p>\n

I have been writing steadily and producing little, as is
\nmy habit. Soon I will be translating contemporary Chilean
\npoets, since I have already enlisted the aid of two people
\nat the University for the enterprise. I will meet one of
\nthese poets \u2013 a man named \u201cMontes\u201d \u2013 next week. I
\nwant to include these translations in my book (they
\nwill be in its last section) to extend the book\u2019s \u201cAmericanness\u201d.
\nThe themes of the Chilean poems will parallel certain
\nthemes in my<\/span> poems.<\/p>\n

2\/<\/p>\n

I enclose a recent production, \u201cThe Poetic License\u201d, in the
\nhope that you and Jane might like it. I was going to send it to
\nParis Review<\/span> and then remembered that I can\u2019t send a SASE from
\nhere. Any suggestions about how to send poems to little magazines in
\nthe states. Please let me know what you think about the poem,
\nin any event.<\/p>\n

Glad to hear you have chosen a topic for your A.S.
\nlecture. It will be first-rate, I\u2019m sure, one of the good things
\nI\u2019m forced to miss by being here.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been invited to do a series of lectures on
\ncenter stage at an all \u2013 South American A.S. conference
\nin January. Americanists from Argentina, Brazil, Columbia,
\nPeru and Chile will be there. Will cover major themes in
\nAmerican culture as expressed in the art and literature of
\nvarious periods. Needless to say, I\u2019m pleased with the
\ninvitation.<\/p>\n

All is otherwise<\/span> well, too. Diane and I are meeting
\nnew people still<\/span> and have begun to settle into the rituals
\nof life in Santiago. More about these subjects in my
\nnext installment. Please hello to Jane. We miss you both.<\/p>\n

Best,<\/p>\n

Wes<\/p>\n

3\/<\/p>\n

P.S. Forgot to mention that C.W. Truesdale rejected The Faces
\nof Americans in 1853<\/span>. Said that my book placed among
\nthe ones he wanted<\/span> to publish, and that he responded especially
\nto the \u201cfarm poems\u201d (there are only two). But, he said,
\nhe couldn\u2019t agree with my choice of the word \u201cponderous\u201d
\nin the poem called \u201cMemory of Kuhre\u201d. That was all.
\nI am not so troubled by the rejection as by the reasons
\nfor it.<\/p>\n

Thus, I\u2019m going for broke on the idea of the
\n\u201cbig book\u201d, which I should have in another year.
\nI may call it The Poetic License<\/span>. The title would
\nrelate to my recent poem, to my attraction to \u201cAmerica\u201d in the 19th century<\/del>
\nin the book as a whole and to the nineteenth century.
\n(There will be 6-8 poems about the 19th century in it.)
\nAlso, the title would relate to the nature of \u201cpoetic
\nlicense\u201d, to the limitations of, the ironies involved
\nwith, poetic license in my poetry. What do you think?<\/p>\n

THE POETIC LICENSE<\/p>\n

On the poetic license it is the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n

A ship named Conventional Poetry
\nis just sinking on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Nearby in a lifeboat
\nForm and Vision shake hands holding the strings
\nof ballons between their lips.<\/p>\n

In the balloons are word of enthusiasm about sailing to America<\/p>\n

the country where dawn is breaking and the Muse collapses
\non the grave of Washington
\nnaming the states.<\/p>\n

Her balloon is so large it grazes the face of the farmer
\nplowing far off in the field
\nHe goes right on waving,<\/p>\n

songs come out of the mouths
\nof his wife and children<\/p>\n

out of the mouths of pioneers watching the figure of Columbia
\nlift off the prairie and rise
\nhalf out of her robe. Oh Burgeoning Art<\/p>\n

Oh Poetry Yet To Be, they say
\npointing to her breasts<\/p>\n

that part of the clouds
\npointing to the clouds<\/p>\n

pointing to my name inscribed across the West in longhand.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

Editorial note about this letter:<\/strong><\/em><\/span> The version of The Poetic License<\/em> that McNair sent to Hall in this letter is similar to the published version of the poem, except that the “Oh Burgeoning Art” in line 18 becomes line 19 and opens the next stanza.<\/p>\n

Read The Poetic License <\/span><\/a><\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Read Stone Walls<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span> (published version)<\/span><\/p>\n

Read Flies <\/span><\/a><\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Read Traffic <\/span><\/a><\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Read Memory of Kuhre <\/span><\/a><\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] 12 October, 1977 Dear Don — I was delighted to hear from you. Letters from the States are special things here, and letters from you the more so. Your indefatigable revisions of \u201cStone Walls\u201d give me strength for my own revisions. I agree with what Bly says [Written in margin: in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2341,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27136,35504,35505,42963,293],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12582,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions\/12582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}