What does it mean to experiment in art, and particularly poetry? More significantly, what distinguishes the goal of the experimental poet from others? The poetry and teachings of Bill Knott (1940—2014) offer us one possible template, however inimitable. #@callout It’s childish to suggest that the experimental mode is one of mere norms-defying It’s childish to suggest that the experimental mode is one of mere norms-defying, though Knott’s work certainly can do that. If it were only that, after many such experiments, there would be no norms left to break. Experimentation must be not only about what to free, but also what to restrict. The experimenter hopes to learn as much from confirmation as from the null hypothesis. No teacher has offered me a more direct lesson in this than Bill. He had many collaborators, friends, and, yes, disciples. I can’t count myself among any of those. Of the many students he taught over a long career at Emerson College, I was one of a mob. Indeed, I only took one class with Emerson’s most formidable and opinionated poet. But one was more than enough. Bill was hard on his students, myself included. The dissemination of prosodic technique generally proceeds smoother with carrot over stick. But Bill leaned on the latter, once pounding his fist on the desk, and shouting, “no, no no!” in response to my draft’s poor attempt to coerce rhyme. Such outbursts were hardly infrequent. Nevertheless, his words of advice, given at his prime, have become among my most cherished. The abuse Bill Knott experienced growing up in a midwest orphanage is already well-documented by others, and in his formal masterpiece “Christmas at the Orphanage,” he reflects clear-eyed. After the first stanza setting the scene of unwrapping the gifts, its second stanza inverts the conventional octave/sestet structure, giving us the eight lines after the first six. It ends thusly: @poemexcerpt{ […] the child that wanted to scream at all You stole those gifts from me; whose birthday is worth such words? The wish-lists they’d made us write out in May lay granted against starred branches. I said I’m sorry. } Knott’s poem rhymes subtly, incorporating feminine rhyme to make its cadences wince. He also bends the tolerances@blur Quaesisti a me, Lucili, quid ita, si prouidentia mundus ageretur, multa bonis uiris mala acciderent. Hoc commodius in contextu operis redderetur, cum praeesse uniuersis prouidentiam probaremus et interesse nobis deum; sed quoniam a toto particulam reuelli placet et unam contradictionem manente lite integra soluere, faciam rem non difficilem, causam deorum agam. @blur 2. Superuacuum est in praesentia ostendere non sine aliquo custode tantum opus stare nec hunc siderum coetum discursumque fortuiti impetus esse, et quae casus incitat saepe turbari et cito arietare, hanc inoffensam uelocita tem procedere aeternae legis imperio tantum rerum terra marique gestantem, tantum clarissimorum luminum et ex disposito relucentium; non esse materiae errantis hunc ordinem nec quae temere coierunt tanta arte pendere ut terrarum grauissimum pondus sedeat inmotum et circa se properantis caeli fugam spectet, ut infusa uallibus maria molliant terras nec ullum incrementum fluminum sentiant, ut ex minimis seminibus nascantur ingentia. @blur 3. Ne illa quidem quae uidentur confusa et incerta, pluuias dico nubesque et elisorum fulminum iactus et incendia ruptis montium uerticibus effusa, tremores labantis soli aliaque quae tumultuosa pars rerum circa terras mouet, sine ratione, quamuis subita sint, accidunt, sed suas et illa causas habent non minus quam quae alienis locis conspecta miraculo sunt, ut in mediis fluctibus calentes aquae et noua insularum in uasto exilientium mari spatia. @blur 4. Iam uero si quis obseruauerit nudari litora pelago in se recedente eademque intra exiguum tempus operiri, credet caeca quadam uolutatione modo contrahi undas et introrsum agi, modo erumpere et magno cursu repetere sedem suam, cum interim illae portionibus crescunt et ad horam ac diem subeunt ampliores minoresque, prout illas lunare sidus elicuit, ad cuius arbitrium oceanus exundat. Suo ista tempori reseruentur, eo quidem magis quod tu non dubitas de prouidentia sed quereris. 5. In gratiam te reducam cum dis aduersus optimos optimis. Neque enim rerum natura patitur ut umquam bona bonis noceant; inter bonos uiros ac deos amicitia est conciliante uirtute. Amicitiam dico? immo etiam necessitudo et similitudo, quoniam quidem bonus tempore tantum a deo differt, discipulus eius aemulatorque et uera progenies, quam parens ille magnificus, uirtutum non lenis exactor, sicut seueri patres, durius educat. 6. Itaque cum uideris bonos uiros acceptosque dis laborare sudare, per arduum escendere, malos autem lasciuire et uoluptatibus fluere, cogita filiorum nos modestia delectari, uernularum licentia, illos disciplina tristiori contineri, horum ali audaciam. Idem tibi de deo liqueat: bonum uirum in deliciis non habet, experitur indurat, sibi illum parat.