I love the 19th-century idea of the flaneur, the poet wandering through the streets.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I read a lot of nineteenth-century French poetry. And Irish poetry from the ninth century on.
The poetic prose that most interests me is that of Henri Michaux.
I think of poets as outlaw visionaries in a way.
I began to write in an enclosed, self-confident literary culture. The poet's life stood in a burnished light in the Ireland of that time. Poets were still poor, had little sponsored work, and could not depend on a sympathetic reaction to their poetry. But the idea of the poet was honored.
I've been trekking the hills and lanes of the British countryside for nearly four decades now and I've come to associate my passion with overexcited poets rather than pampered painters.
And, I mean, I think poetry does need to be met to some extent, especially, I guess, 19th century poetry, and for me, it's just been so worth the effort. It's like I'm planting a garden in my head.
The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.
I think some of the best modern writing comes now from travellers.
I love the simple poetry of theater, where you can stand in a spotlight on a stage and wrap a coat around you, and say, 'It was 1860 and it was winter...'
Twentieth-century American poetry has been one of the glories of modern literature.