Making It New: Creating an Audience for Poetry JASON GURIEL A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Graduate Program in English York University Toronto, Ontario May 2012 © Jason Guriel, 2012 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-92819-6 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-92819-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Abstract Throughout its history, scholars have celebrated Poetry as an important site for modernist and contemporary poetry. Ezra Pound, in particular, has received much praise for serving as the magazine’s Foreign Correspondent in its early years and championing poets such as T. S. Eliot and H. D. Yet its founding editor, Harriet Monroe, has been assailed for her efforts to pay the magazine’s poets and enlarge its readership, policies which tend to be dimissed as commercial and compromised ambitions. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Mikhail Bakhtin, however, I argue that Monroe’s relatively progressive vision, which the current editors of Poetry have in part revived, conceives of the magazine as a “refuge-gallery” and suggests that poets are historically situated agents who require financial and cultural support. My dissertation constitutes a four-chapter analysis of Poetry, each section centered on a key figure. In the first chapter, I show that Monroe’s genteel background provided her with substantial social capital, enabling her to envision the possibility of a different kind of “little magazine”: the first periodical in the American literary field that was devoted to poetry and one that would neither cater to a mass audience nor address itself merely to a coterie. In the second chapter, I demonstrate that William Carlos Williams’s attacks on Monroe’s project and his own relationships with modernist magazines reflect a post-Romantic ideology that locates poets outside of economic relations. My final two chapters focus on how the careers of contemporary figures like Kay Ryan and Samuel Menashe as well as their dialogic poems have been shaped by the poets’s respective relationships with Poetry. At different yet crucial moments in its existence, Poetry has attempted to alter the structure of the American and trans-Atlantic literary fields by working to materialize what Monroe imagined: a substantial and hitherto unsustainable readership for “serious” and “complicated” poetry (Wiman). Demonstrating how and why the magazine is a materialist space in which poets’s careers and identities have been forged, this dissertation recovers a “subjugated” history of Poetry. For Sonya Tomas and in memory of Ciprian Guriel (1922-2011) and Samuel Menashe (1925-2011) V Acknowledgments I want to thank my dissertation committee, Dr. Lesley J. Higgins (co-supervisor), Dr. Andy Weaver (co-supervisor), and Dr. Susan Warwick. Dr. Higgins’s tireless dedication and rigorous intelligence have had a major impact on my development as a teacher and scholar. I am indebted to her. Dr. Weaver’s sharp insights and humour have meant a lot to me, as has his wonderful example as an educator. Dr. Warwick’s keen eye, generous knowledge, and warmth made a difference. I want to thank my family, including my remarkable mother, Shirley Guriel, to whom I offer my love. My sister Natalie Guriel has been a tremendous and loving support throughout this process, as has her husband, Craig Vaughan. My father, Ciprian Guriel, passed away before I completed this work, but his kindness and music continue to inform my efforts. I also want to thank Maria Tomas, Armindo Tomas, Carla Tomas, and Will Perreira for their generosity and encouragement. Dr. Richard Teleky has been a great teacher and friend throughout the years. To him, I offer my gratitude. Dr. Rishma Dunlop provided valuable advice and guidance. Belal Khallad, Terence Kelsey, Evan Jones, Jason Ranon Uri Rotstein, and Robert Lotz have also been supports throughout this process. It was an honour to interview Samuel Menashe, on whom my last chapter is focused. Samuel was more than a masterful poet; he was a friend. I will always cherish our discussions and the gift of his anecdotes, handwritten poems, and exuberant energy. Finally, and most importantly, I want to thank my wonderful wife, Sonya Tomas, to whom this work is dedicated. Without her love, patience, support, and wisdom, this dissertation - and much else besides - would not have been possible. I owe her more than I can calculate. vi Table of Contents Abstract ii Dedication iv Acknowledgments v Table of Contents vi List of Abbreviations viii Introduction 1 1. Scholarly Contribution 4 2. Methodology and Chapter Breakdown 10 Chapter One: “Our magazine-gallery”: Making an Editor and an Audience 21 1. “The first in the field”: Poetry in Relation to Other Magazines 26 2. The Chicago of Possibles: Monroe in the Literary Field 34 3. Refuge and Gallery: Constructing Poetry 41 4. “An ever-increasing public”: Imagining an Audience 73 5. Conclusion 90 Chapter Two: “I swear never to be successful”: Making a Poet of Little Magazines 92 1. “It must be a person who does it”: Defining the Little Magazine 99 2. “Gulfs and grottos”: Playing the (American Literary) Field 104 3. “No one had any money”: Capitalizing on the Little Magazine 113 4. “A poetic stock yard”: Williams and Poetry 138 5. Conclusion 159 Chapter Three: “Outsider Art”: Making Kay Ryan 165 1. Poetry Professionals: Redrawing the American Literary Field 170 2. “[T]hey gouge and hatch”: Manufacturing the Outsider 177 3. “I marvelled at how generally I was aided”: Ryan in the Magazines 200 4. “I love introductions”: Dialogism in the Poems of Ryan 216 5. Conclusion 242 Chapter Four: “My aftermath”: Making a Neglected Master 245 1. “Outside the walls”: Menashe in the Gaps of the Literary Field 251 2. At the Window Sill: The Importance of Space 271 3. “The niche narrows”: Locating Menashe 290 4. “Wake up late,” Out of the Wilderness: Menashe and Poetry 301 5. Conclusion 318 Conclusion Notes Works Cited and Consulted viii List of Abbreviations “ABH” Samuel Menashe, “A Bronze Head” “ACP” Samuel Menashe, “At Cross Purposes” “A f’ Samuel Menashe, “All my friends are homeless” “AI” Kay Ryan, “An Interview” “ALI” Kay Ryan, “A Lyrical Intellect” “ANM” David Orr, “A ‘Neglected’ Master” APL Harriet Monroe, A Poet’s Life “AS” Samuel Menashe, “At a Standstill” “ASP” William Carlos Williams, “Announcement and Sample Poem” Auto William Carlos Williams, The Autobiography o f William Carlos Williams “Auto” Samuel Menashe, “Autobiography” “AWC” William Carlos Williams, “A Word about Our Contributors” “AWOR” Harriet Monroe, “A Word to Our Readers” “AWP” Kay Ryan, “I Go to AWP” “AWS” Kay Ryan, “Almost Without a Surface” “BCD” Kay Ryan, “Blue China Doorknob” “BKR” Poetry Foundation, “Biography: Kay Ryan” “BSS” William Carlos Williams, “A Beginning on the Short Story (Notes)” “BT” Samuel Menashe, “The Bare Tree” “BW” Harriet Monroe, “The Bigness of the World” “CaG” Robert McAlmon, “Contact and Genius” “CC” Samuel Menashe, “Captain, Captive” “CPM” Dana Gioia, “Can Poetry Matter?” CPI William Carlos Williams, The Collected Poems I “CS” Kay Ryan, “Cooling the Surface” “CV” Samuel Menashe, “Curriculum Vitae” “DKR” Dana Gioia, “Discovering Kay Ryan” DN Mikhail Bakhtin, Discourse in the Novel “EMW” William Carlos Williams, “The Editors Meet William Carlos Williams” “ER” Anonymous, “Elephant Rocks” “EWHM” Harriet Monroe, “The Enemies We Have Made” “FA” William Carlos Williams, “Further Announcement” “FC” Harriet Monroe, “The Fight for the Crowd” “FD” Samuel Menashe, “Forever and a Day” “FM” Harriet Monroe, “The Future of the Magazine” “FS” Samuel Menashe, “Family Silver” “GDD” Samuel Menashe, “Giving the Day Its Due” “GHR” Harriet Monroe, “Give Him Room” “GN” Jason Guriel, “Going Negative” HMPR Ellen Williams, Harriet Monroe and the Poetry Renaissance “HTI” Harriet Monroe, “Hard Times Indeed” ix “HW” Samuel Menashe, “Heat Wave” “HWA” Nicholas Bims, ‘“He walked in awe’: The Poetic Task of Samuel Menashe” “IG” Nicholas Bims, ‘“I am where I go’: The Poetry of Samuel Menashe” “IM” Samuel Menashe, “In Memoriam” “IMD” Samuel Menashe, “In My Digs” “ISM” Samuel Menashe, “Interview: Samuel Menashe” “IWCW” William Carlos Williams, “An Interview with William Carlos Williams' “KR” Kay Ryan, “Kay Ryan” LMHB Frederick J.