《Burning Beauty》.pdfVIP

The Stamp of Class: Reflections on Poetry and Social Class Gary Lenhart /titleDetailLookInside.do?id=104886 The University of Michigan Press, 2005. Burning Beauty Diane Wakoski, Eileen Myles, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, Tracie Morris When Lucille Clifton was at Dartmouth College to read in October 1999, I was invited to lunch with her, Grace Paley, and three other poets from the Dartmouth faculty—William Cook, Cleopatra Mathis, and Cynthia Huntington. When Cynthia mentioned that I was writing a book about poetry and social class, Lucille turned to me and said, “I’d be interested to read that book. You know, I’m not supposed to be here myself.” As a sign of the times, or maybe Dartmouth’s particular dynamics, it was a remark with resonance for everyone in that company. The major obstacle to discussing class and poetry is the lack of vocabulary. As Senator John Edwards campaigned for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency in September 2003, his wife Elizabeth mentioned proudly that “as the son of a South Carolina mill worker, her husband grew up without class consciousness.” She went on to say that he understood the “workingman’s” problems because “at his core, he is one.” Then she again cited his “lack of class consciousness as his greatest tool to overcome such problems.” The contradictions in Ms. 112 The Stamp of Class: Reflections on Poetry and Social Class Gary Lenhart /titleDetailLookInside.do?id=104886 The University of Michigan Press, 2005. Burning Beauty Edwards’s remarks illustrate