Review
J. P. Ward: Poetry and the Sociological Idea
J. P. Ward: Poetry and the Sociological Idea; Harvester Press, £20.
Some of the issues dealt with in this study have been handled before under more traditional headings. Interpreters of Romantic and post-Romantic poetry have frequently explored the split between the poet, his art, 'the image', and society. By examining the 'fundamental incompatibility between poetry and the sociological idea of reality' J.P .Ward's project is at once more ambitious and more urgent.
After the claim for the ubiquitous nature of 'the sociological idea' has been defended and illustrated with a description of five major types of sociology, the largest section of the argument focuses on an analysis of poetry before this idea arrived. Spenser is aligned with social phenomenology, Donne with social interactionism, Milton with Marxist sociology, Pope with social functionalism and Wordsworth with social anthropology. In each case the intention is to show incompatibility between the two thought most likely to resemble each other. The argument becomes brisker and more fragmented as a consequence of following the various forms of modern and contemporary poetry which have openly responded in their different ways to this split. From Baudelaire onwards, poetry's engagements with myth, history, civilisation and the poem itself, are all seen as proof of divergence. The ultimate position of isolation is represented by the death interest evident in the works of Hardy, Berryman and Plath. This wide-ranging survey of historical examples is performed economically and makes the claim of incompatibility seem convincing.
The method adopted by Ward to supply the poetic evidence to this argument is surprisingly traditional given the subject's obvious relevance to the present critical debate. From the beginning of the book our attention is centred on the familiar idea of the poet as maker. The poem's hazardous place in relation to language and society is largely conceived in terms of problems for the poet. For Donne the problem is 'one of explaining or capturing love' - hence the elaboration of conceits, ambiguities and paradox. The Romantic poets, it is claimed, 'cannot grasp [sociology] but must find a visionary, mythological or physical objective correlative'. In this case the insistence on the poets instead of their works leads to a description of failure rather than a recognition of a different specialised activity. The bias is never simply biographical, but it does have the effect, at times, of defining poetry simply as 'expression', and results in such statements as: 'When composition is done, the poetic effect is there'.That the problems or conflicts remain with the poet is supported by the use of 'close reading' as a method of criticism, and by periodic appeals to commonsense. Although it is stressed throughout that poetry is a different and radical language use, reading poems is frequently seen as unproblematical. Of course, this is obviously exaggerated by the limited space available and the amount of material to be covered, but it does have the effect of ruling out what would be an interesting addition to the important debate that has been set in motion.
The role of the reader would seem to be as central to this debate as the problem facing the poet. 'Close reading' suggests an innocence that no longer really exists. To include in the argument an indication of how poetry is read, and in what context, is certainly to enter into a difficult area. However, it might not be a case of adding a further problem: it might solve some of the problems. To admit to reading as a constructive activity allows for the possibility of reducing the isolation of poetry and of emphasising its importance. The passionate defence of poetry which concludes this book might find support in such an admission.
J.P. Ward's study is likely to be provocative because it moves quickly through a very large and challenging area. It is, ironically, least satisfying when claiming to be 'simple and straightforward'. It is rewarding when there is sufficient room to allow for the complexities of the poems which are being used as evidence. In so far as it remedies the lack of sociological attention given to poetry it is a welcome and stimulating addition to an important area of study. Those interested in poetry as a positive and vital manifestation of our language and in the position of the poet in relation to these ideas will also be rewarded.
JOHN C. WHALE
(J. P. Ward recently received a Welsh Arts Council Prize for Poetry and the Sociological Idea.)
Page(s) 90-92
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