By
THOMAS SWISS
A version of a review article from Popular Music,
Cambridge University Press, 15:2.
 |
A poetry revival is underway, and it has something to do with rock and rap.
Sweet Nothings: An Anthology of Rock and Roll in American Poetry.
Edited by Jim Elledge. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1994. 283 pp.
Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Edited by Miguel Algarin
and Bob Holman. New York: Henry
Holt and Co., 1994. 514 pp.
Like most literary revivals, this latest one
has been signaled in part by a
step-up in the production of anthologies. Although the fashion in the last few years
has been to publish collections that classify poets by age, gender, or ethnicity,
collections devoted to particular themes, subjects, or influences remain
hardy perennials.
Music is no stranger to poetry, of course -- its influence
is various and everywhere. So it's not surprising that once in awhile editors
decide to test the market with books that bring these two together. There
have been anthologies that reference classical music, and several that focus
on jazz, but Sweet Nothings is the first to bring together a significant
number of rock-related poems. And Aloud
may be the first to collect a substantial group of rap-related poems.
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