How does Leonard Cohen rank among 20th/21st century poets?

[rousseau]

A few months ago I bought Cohen's 'The Book of Longing' which is a collection of his poetry. It's a great one to pick up every now and then to browse through, and contains come of the most enjoyable poetry I've read.

So I wonder if anyone knows:

- is Leonard Cohen among the upper echelon of poets of the last 100 years?
- if so, who is up there in the top tier with him?

 

[jab]

depends who you ask. I'm an English prof and think he's very very good--but he writes in rhyme and meter, AND he writes kind of popular songs. OMG, some scholars would say, how , under those circumstances, could a serious reader of poetry take him seriously.

 

[thebeave]

Who?

 

[Bronzeage]

I'll be happy to put Leonard in the top 100, maybe top 20. I have a peculiar way of rating poets. If I can recall a line of their work without making an effort to memorize it, I'll concede their greatness.

I remember you well at the Chelsea Hotel, but that's all.
I don't think of you that often.

Damn.

That's my standard and it's purely arbitrary.

Poetry is the "special child" of literature and English is the special child of languages. Iambic pentameter in English? Sure. Why not? That's where it sticks. We have a language which does not lend itself to the poetic forms of the real languages. The best we could manage for centuries was finding rhyming words at the ends of the lines. Of course, word pronunciation changes and now they don't rhyme anymore?

Finally, it was just too much. The only way to objectively judge a poem is to hold it up to the template of a form. Is a sonnet? Better have fourteen lines and rhyme.

Take away the form and all we have is imagery. Images and feelings, converted to words, read and reassembled as images and feelings. How do rate that. Maybe the reassembled image is better than what the writer saw. Does he get extra credit for his reader's improvements?

Leonard's good. Charles Bukowsky is good. Walt Whitman is good. Vachel Lindsey is good. Catullus is good. I'm good, but there's no money in the game. As I said, special children.

 

[rousseau]

Yea, I tend to gravitate toward people who convey wisdom, positive emotion and imagery, and the like, rather than those who adhere to forms.

But as you say, as long as someone says something, and it grabs me, it's good.

 

[Bronzeage]

Yea, I tend to gravitate toward people who convey wisdom, positive emotion and imagery, and the like, rather than those who adhere to forms.

But as you say, as long as someone says something, and it grabs me, it's good.

Even though Cohen is Canadian, it's apt to say a poet is without honor in his own country.

It sounds strange to say it out loud, but one of the worst things for a poet's reputation is to become popular. I remember another singer-songwriter-poet from Leonard's generation, Rod McKuen. Rod was so popular, little books of his work could be found by the cash register in gift shops.It just doesn't get any better than that, but Rod was routinely trashed in academic circles for a lack of whatever is required to appeal to academic types. Does the title "King of Kitsch sound familiar. I'm sure Rod cried all the way to the bank.

Rod and Leonard have another thing in common, movie songs. Rod's song "Jean" was the love theme for the movie, "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," and was nominated for an Academy Award. Can't argue with that.

This points to the reality of being a poet in modern times. The best selling poet in the nation may wonder how he will pay next month's cable bill. That is unless some piece of his work gets used in a hit movie. Leonard was destined to be as obscure as Rod in his old age, but fate intervened. His song "Hallelujah" was used in the movie Shrek. I'd be willing to bet a month's royalties, that Leonard made more money off of Shrek than he made in his entire career, up to that point.