Dante, the one-hit wonder

[Jonathan Lighter]

Though the essence of poetry is captured here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv1L-8f2erg&feature=related

If you're of a certain age.

JL
On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 11:14 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Dante, the one-hit wonder
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Try this, poetry fans:
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Top-500-Poems-William-Harmon/dp/023108028X
>
> At least Harmon uses the interesting criterion of the frequency with which
> a poem has been anthologized by tastemakers.
>
>  JL
> On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 10:54 AM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu
> >wrote:
>
>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Dante, the one-hit wonder
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > LH, on Anthony Tommasini's ranking of composers:
> > >  (Tommasini did make it easier for himself by placing strict
> > cultural--European--parameters on his search.)
> >
> > Exactly.  I read Tommasini's essays with interest, for the sake of his
> > discussions justifying his choices.  But all his candidates were writing
> in
> > the same language, and a language he understood.  He didn't try to
> balance
> > Mozart with Ellington with a master of Japanese music.
> >
> > GAT
> >
> > George A. Thompson
> > Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> > Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.  Working on a new edition,
> though.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Date: Monday, March 7, 2011 9:31 pm
> > Subject: Re: Dante, the one-hit wonder
> >  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> > > At 11:38 AM -0500 3/7/11, George Thompson wrote:
> > > >  >From today's NYTimes:
> > > >In February Dean Rader, an English professor at the University of
> > > >San Francisco, set out to discover history's 10 best poets (much
> > > >like Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times recently did for
> > > >composers).
> > >
> > > And did so less ninnily, I'd argue.  Of course I'm probably
> > > influenced by the fact that the constituency and order of Tommasini's
> > > Top 4 (Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert) matched exactly the
> > > constituency and almost (modulo the Beethoven/Mozart ranking) exactly
> > > the order of the megabytes devoted to composers in my iTunes.  I
> > > wouldn't begin to assess Rader's nadirs.  (Tommasini did make it
> > > easier for himself by placing strict cultural--European--parameters
> > > on his search.)
> > >
> > > LH
> > >
> > > >  [his top poet i Pablo Neruda]  In second place was Shakespeare,
> > > >whose name, according to Mr. Rader's "shockingly unscientific
> > > >measurements," appeared most frequently in reader e-mails, followed
> > > >by Dante, who Mr. Rader said was the most controversial pick,
> > > >because "he's only well known for one poem ('The Divine Comedy')."
> > > >Western literary greats like Walt Whitman, John Donne, Emily
> > > >Dickinson, William Butler Yeats and Wallace Stevens also appear on
> > > >the list with the Eastern favorites Rumi and Li Po, whom Mr. Rader
> > > >called "the great poet of drunkenness."
> > > >
> > > >So 6 of the top 10 write in English, and the list is rounded out by
> > > >a Spanish, an Italian, a Persian and a Chinese poet; no poet who
> > > >wrote in Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Hindi, German . . . . . measured
> > > >up.
> > > >
> > > >Did I mention that no Greek or Latin poet could make the cut?
> > > >
> > > >I post this just to show you folks that Linguistics isn;t the only
> > > >field of study beset by ninnies.
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/books/07arts-THE10BESTPOE_BRF.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=dante&st=cse
> > > >
> > > >GAT
> > > >
> > > >George A. Thompson
> > > >Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
> > > >Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.  Working on a
> > > >new edition, though.
> > > >
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