“Poets Need Not Suffer”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31800, 3 October 1968, Page 1

“Poets Need Not Suffer”

“Nobody need arrange suffering for a poet—he has it builtin—but he can also enjoy enormous happiness from his inner sensitivity,” said the noted Canadian poet, Dr Earle Birney, in Christchurch last evening.

Dr Birney had been asked about the problems of a poet in earning a livelihood and finding time and inspiration for his work. The interviewer had commented that some poets said their best work derived from their suffering. Dr Birney said he would be the last to suggest that a poet, supported by a personal patron or public sponsorship, might tend to lose his drive. The biggest problem, he

said, was that young poets had to “sell themselves to commerce” as bank clerks, engineers, anything, in order to eat—and then they often did not get time to write. “Newspapers are said to be the of novelists,” he said. Some, like himself, could start rather late, survive a long time (his age is 64) and build up “cash, credit, and know-how” for a poeticallyrich old age. Others, and this was the pity, lost their creative energies before they were in a position to exploit them.

“Modem, rich societies waste money on gambling, sport, and many other pleasures—and on war—without any comparable expenditure on the creative arts,” said Dr Birney. Canada was in this position until 10 years ago, when the Canada Coun-

cil —which sponsored his visit to Australia and New Zealand—began supporting the arts and artists. Australia was beginning to realise the importance of its own good symphony orchestras, opera, ballet, and so on. Dr Birney wrote his first poems during the Second World War “when somebody lost my records and nobody found me, so that I had time on my hands.” Later, Dr Birney rose to the rank of major on active service in England, Belgium and the Netherlands.

After the war, he managed a branch of Radio Canada, earned his doctorate in medieval literature, and then held professorships at the Universities of British Columbia and Toronto. He has travelled widely—and this inspired many of his poems.