Spectra (poetry collection)

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Spectra: A Book of Poetic Experiments was a small volume of poetry published in 1916 by American writers Witter Bynner, who wrote under the pseudonym "Emanuel Morgan", and Arthur Davison Ficke, who wrote as "Anne Knish." The book was intended as satire directed at the Imagism poetry movement. [1]

Poetry Form of literature

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or simply America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. Most of the country is located contiguously in North America between Canada and Mexico.

Witter Bynner American author

Harold Witter Bynner, also known by the pen name Emanuel Morgan, was an American poet, writer and scholar, known for his long residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and association with other literary figures there.

Contents

Spectra was preceded by a brief manifesto outlining the Spectric method as a school:

Manifesto published declaration of principles and intentions of an individual or group

A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a new idea with prescriptive notions for carrying out changes the author believes should be made. It often is political or artistic in nature, but may present an individual's life stance. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds.

The poems in the collection were identified by opus numbers rather than titles, and mostly take on a silly tone. [2]

In musical composition, the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition, or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's production. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositions with similar titles; the word is abbreviated as "Op." for a single work, or "Opp." when referring to more than one work.

From "Opus 6" by Emanuel Morgan:

If I were only dafter
I might be making hymns
To the liquor of your laughter
And the lacquer of your limbs.

Anne Knish's Opus 118:

If bathing were a virtue, not a lust
I would be dirtiest.
To some, housecleaning is a holy rite.
For myself, houses would be empty
But for the golden motes dancing in sunbeams.
Tax-assessors frequently overlook valuables.
Today they noted my jade.
But my memory of you escaped them.

Spectra was intended solely as a joke. Initially, even the publisher was fooled by the book, but he was let in on the joke before going to press. The authors assumed the ridiculousness of the work would shine through, but it was actually accepted as a legitimate poetic movement for two years. In 1918, Bynner admitted in a public speech that he had co-authored the book and explained the hoax. [3]

Both Bynner and Ficke were accomplished poets of their time, but the Spectra poems are probably the most widely remembered of their work. [4] [5] Both authors admitted to the hoax having backfired to a certain extent, as it overshadowed their more serious work. Nonetheless, Ficke stated that he learned a good deal about composition while writing as Knish, adding that it actually influenced his later work. [3]

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References

  1. ↑ Poetry Foundation. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/witter-bynner
  2. ↑ Museum of Hoaxes. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/spectric_poetry
  3. 1 2 The Spectra Hoax | Primary Selections from Special Collections
  4. ↑ Witter Bynner : The Poetry Foundation
  5. ↑ Poetry Foundation Archived 2011-03-12 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

Smith, William Jay. The Spectra Hoax. (Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT), 1961.

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