Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney, and
Christopher Lydon
ROBERT PENN WARREN
CL: What do you think about the United States having a poet lau–
reate?
DW:
I think generally the idea of a poet laureate has been treated
with some slight ridicule because it's such an elevated-sounding title.
On the other hand, it's an old tradition to elevate a poet to represent
the tribe or the nation or whatever. And I think it automatically ceases
to be in any way amusing when Warren is nominated. In other words,
you know there's noway that that can be a funny idea. It's a crown–
ing achievement for a poet whose achievement parallels almost, I
would say, in terms of its revelation and in terms of its course, some–
thing close to that of Hardy and Yeats, in terms of his best writing
happening in his old age, the most power happening in his old age.
So I think that as the recognition of that - if it is not purely a sort of
crowning an aging man with some kind of glbry at the end - as the
recognition of the achievement itself, of what he has done recently,
it's terrific that it has happened, and I can't think of anyone else
more deserving of it now.
CL:
How would you describe the poetry?
DW:
In my particular case, I'm a little cautious about my apprecia–
tion of Warren, because I used to feel, when I was much younger,
that in a sense the novelist dominated the poetry. I didn't mind the
fictional part of it so much, but what I began to recognize, and a lot
of other poets recently are quite staggered by, is not only the fecun–
dity and clarity that have emerged but also a tightening of symmetry,
a concentration, and a great vigor, I mean a vigor equal to a delight
and pride in old age that is really heroic. A clarity has come into the
work itself, a sort of elation that has been well-earned.
CL:
Seamus, do you want to embellish on that?
SH:
Well I think Warren, of poets in America, is a poet who has not
broken faith with the historical experience; the matter of American
Editor's Note: This interview was conducted by Christopher Lydon for The Ten
O'Clock News, WGBH-TV, Boston, MA. Copyright
<C>
1986 WGBH Educational
Foundation. "Caribou" and "Tell Me A Story"
<C>
1985 by Robert Penn Warren and
reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.
