Kay Ryan in “The Art of Poetry” in The Paris Review

INTERVIEWER

How did you learn to control tone?

RYAN

I’ve always been sickened by the whole discussion of natural tone, natural voice. I think that’s ridiculous. Every tone, every voice is unnatural, and it is natural to be unnatural. So there’s nothing to talk about. It works or it doesn’t work. I don’t think that anybody ought to tolerate the tyranny of the idea of “natural” voice. 

Thank you for letting me get that off my chest.

Read the whole interview here.

 

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