Intellectual Curiosities and Provocations

July 2003

Rhyme in Ghazals

Poetry
One of the major problems when writing in a form such as the ghazal-a form in which repetition plays such a major role-is keeping the rhyme fresh at all times. If the rhyme stagnates, the poem will fail, no matter how potent the images themselves may be. This essay will propose a few suggestions for rhymes in ghazals that, hopefully, will keep their lines fresh.

Jim Morrison: A "Serious" Poet?

 
Jim Morrison of the Doors, and his hand
 

An extensive study of the poetic influences, traditions and radical ideals about nature, modernism, shamanism and native culture that inspired Doors singer and lyricist Jim Morrison.

Existential,
La Boheme,
Music,
Poetry,
Summer Of Love

"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee."
-Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

James Douglas Morrison's poetry was born out of a period of tumultuous social and political change in American and world history. Besides Morrison's social and political perspective, his verse also speaks with an understanding of the world of literature, especially of the traditions that shaped the poetry of his age. His poetry also expresses his own experiences, thoughts, development, and maturation as a poet--from his musings on film at UCLA in The Lords and The New Creatures, to his final poems in Wilderness and The American Night. It is my intention in this essay to show Morrison as a serious American poet, whose work is worthy of serious consideration in relation to its place in the American literary tradition. By discussing the poetry in terms of Morrison's influences and own ideas, I will be able to show what distinguishes him as a significant American poet. In order to reveal him as having a clearly-defined ability as a poet, my focus will be on Morrison's own words and poetry. I will concentrate on his earlier work to show the influence of Nietzsche and French poets such as Arthur Rimbaud and Antonin Artaud and the effect they had on Morrison's poetry and style.

Ray Bradbury

Being A Writer,
Biography,
Science Fiction
"The act of writing is, for me, like a fever -- something I must do. And it seems I always have some new fever developing, some new love to follow and bring to life.

"I've never doubted myself; I've always been so completely devoted to libraries and books and authors that I couldn't stop to consider for a moment that I was being foolish. I only knew that writing was in itself the only way to live."
--Ray Bradbury

It was the summer of 1990 and I was in Los Angeles on assignment to cover a national convention of health professionals and dieticians. The LA riots were light years away, not many people paid attention to some place called Iraq, and O.J. Simpson was considered a hero. George Bush was in the White House, George Herbert Walker Bush.

Madness and Mysticism in the Poetry of William Blake

British,
La Boheme,
Poetry,
Psychology,
Religion


All prophecies are fragile. They are subject to contradiction, to falsity. The false prophet, then, one might consider insane. But how does one interpret the language of prophecy? Is it a language of madness, of hidden truth, of images? Such questions are pertinent when discussing the works of visionary poet William Blake. His prophecies or visions informed his poetic style and language and invested them with a vigor, energy, and substance that reach far beyond the mere meaning or signification of language. He claimed to experience visions of the prophet Elijah (among other visions). So was Blake insane? Blake, certainly, suffered from some type of mental illness. His mood swings, his depressions, and his fervent, inspired productivity have been the subject of much debate. However, does mental illness necessarily detract from the value of his visionary poetry? Or does it contribute something to it? These questions cannot be answered adequately unless address the topic of mysticism as well. Blake was a follower of the esoteric religious doctrines of Emmanuel Swedenborg. The intersection of madness and mysticism is key to the understanding of Blake, if only because it demonstrates that this madness did not signify a necessary degeneration in the faculties of the mind, but rather a passionate commitment to the imagination, the spiritual, and the profound.

Beefheart: Shiny Beast of Thought

Music
Don Van Vliet (alias Captain Beefheart) is most (in)famous for his music, music that you either love or hate. I could say something about him being one of the most important composers of the 20th century, but that would just be my opinion. I will say that anyone not acquainted with his playful, inventive work is missing out on something.