Style
In response to the publication of his Collected Poems, the New York Times Magazine's Wyatt Mason wrote a long piece on the poet, calling Seidel the "Laureate of the Louche," and Seidel has earned similar labels from other journalists. For instance, New York Times book reviewer David Orr, in his review of Poems: 1959-2009, wrote, " one of poetry's few scary characters." Seidel is frequently characterized as such, in part, because, in his writing, he often makes use of violent and disturbing sexual imagery and presents himself as a rather unlikeable aesthete who embraces his own "elite" brand of materialism (extolling, for instance, his love of Ducati motorcycles and handmade shoes). However, Seidel often ironizes this persona, pushing it to cartoonish extremes.
Seidel's poetry isn't only about his outrageous poetic persona. He also writes poems that comment on contemporary events and are political/satirical (as is his poem "Bush's War"). His work is also notable in that he frequently makes use of rhyme and meter (both regular and irregular). One of Seidel's earliest influences was Robert Lowell. Seidel has stated, "The influence of Lowell unmistakable." However, the critic Richard Poirier noted that Seidel had broken free of this influence by the time that he published his second book, Sunrise.
Read more about this topic: Frederick Seidel
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“Each child has his own individual expressions to offer to the world. That expression can take many forms, from artistic interests, a way of thinking, athletic activities, a particular style of dressing, musical talents, different hobbies, etc. Our job is to join our children in discovering who they are.”
—Stephanie Martson (20th century)
“A cultivated style would be like a mask. Everybody knows it’s a mask, and sooner or later you must show yourself—or at least, you show yourself as someone who could not afford to show himself, and so created something to hide behind.... You do not create a style. You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.”
—Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980)
“All my stories are webs of style and none seems at first blush to contain much kinetic matter.... For me “style” is matter.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)