The proposition is a simple one: energy is larger than man, but therefore, if he taps it as it is in himself, his uses of himself are EXTENSIBLE in human directions & degree not recently granted. Quickly, therefore, the EXCEPTIONAL man, the “hero”, loses his description as “genius” – his “birth” is mere instrumentation for application to the energy he did not create – and becomes, instead, IMAGE of possibilities implicit in the energy, given the METHODOLOGY of its use by men from the man who is capable precisely of this, and only this kind of intent & attention.
Charles Olson, 1951
1 comment
Olson's prose infuriates many, with its many commas and unresolved clauses (he 'invented' the open parenthesis) but I love it. It produces great waves of energy in its rush and impatience to get out. It must be read aloud to do it justice.
He once defined poetry as "how, by form, to get the content instant".
Post a Comment