Towards a new philosophy of literature

Today I was fortunate enough to be given a full page article in the Cork Evening Echo about my new book, A Raft of Dreams - the kind of showing in the media that any writer would be ecstatic about. Me, especially, because my writing is not 'mainstream' and I'm not well known as a writer.

Many thanks to Aingeal Ni Mhurchu, then, for such an empathic interview - she certainly seemed to be on my wavelength, which was both surprising and encouraging! I do have strong and controversial ideas about literature and, with no little trepidation, I put forward some of these for inclusion in the article.

I realise, for one thing, that my poems are different from most contemporary poetry, which is unabatedly secular, while mine is metaphysical. I have always preferred the metaphysical to the secular in this respect because it reflects a shift from ego-consciousness to consciousness of a deeper self.

While making no special claims for my own poetry, I believe a new philosophy of literature is needed which would embrace a reconciliation of the secular and metaphysical traditions in poetry and an accompanying vision of the universe, of the infinite and eternal, from microcosm to macrocosm.

Most English language poetry of the last 50 years, especially, has suffered from (secular) ‘free verse’ which is normally no more than chopped-up prose – it could just as well be rendered as prose and, in most cases, ought to be. I confess I have been guilty of ‘chopped-up prose’ myself on occasion, such is the power of its allure, but I recognise it for what it is and do my best to avoid it.

I like to think I write with craft and form because when I turn to poetry anthologies and journals today I find them full of poems that could have been written by the same person, that have the same concerns, the same tone – nothing really stands out, to me. Writing with craft and form definitely helps to offset this sameness. There – I’ve laid my prosodic cards on the table.