Vernon Scannell: Poet

Vernon Scannell was British boxer and poet. Explore interesting quotes on poet.
Vernon Scannell: 66 quotes0 likes

“The poet, absorbed in the solving of formal problems, the struggle with slippery eels of language, has no time for dissimulation and he tells us more about himself than he knows.”

Vernon Scannell

Tiger and the Rose, 1971

“Some poets are more deeply involved than others in the raw experience which lies behind the poem and for them the act of composition is an act of self exploration with the definite goal of enlightenment rather than the ideally depersonalized construction of a beautiful and autonomous object.”

Vernon Scannell

Not Without Glory, 1976

“The poet's need to try to find his own voice, a recognizable individual voice that carries the signature of his voice in almost every line... the unique tone being the consequence of the poet's rigorous search for truth ( his truth(, his absolute fidelity to the nature of the experience he was exploring.”

Vernon Scannell

A Proper Gentleman, 1977

“The desire of a poet for his writings to be in print is as natural as a painter needs to exhibit his work in public.”

Vernon Scannell

A Proper Gentleman, 1977

“It is impossible for a poet to fashion the voice deliberately by contrivance and experiment; it could not be discovered or simulated through the cultivation of an eccentric diction or prosody, or by the employment of regional speech rhythms and patterns.”

Vernon Scannell

A Proper Gentleman, 1977

“All true poets are, of course, primarily concerned with artifact, the making of a verbal construct, a durable work of art.”

Vernon Scannell

Not Without Glory, 1976

“The best poetry of the second World war written by both British & American servicemen need not fear comparison with the generally more well highly regarded work of the 1914-18 poets.”

Vernon Scannell

Introductory Essay 'Setting the Scene'
Not Without Glory, 1976

“I'm no novelist. Or anything else, I suppose, except, just possibly a poet, once in a while.”

Vernon Scannell

Scannell's diary entry - 28 December 1966 James Andrew Taylor - Walking Wounded: The Life and poetry of Vernon Scannell O U P 2013 ISBN 9780199603183