Two weeks ago I went with a friend to the release party for UWG’s literary magazine, Eclectic. It felt a little awkward to be the sole history major in a sea of hipsters English majors, but I had a good time; a lot of the work in this year’s magazine was top-notch, and the readings were quite enjoyable. The biggest draw of the party, though, probably wasn’t the magazine itself, but the fact that Edward Hirsch was present.

Here, I guess, is where my history-majorness shines forth. I had no idea who Edward Hirsch was. Apparently he is a poet. And also president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. All in all, he seems pretty legit.

After the various singings and readings and award-givings, he spoke. Most of it had to do with poetry, understandably, but a lot of it had to do with writing in general–and a lot of what he said about poetry could be extrapolated to apply to writing in general.

One thing in particular stuck with me: writing can’t only be self-conscious and introspective. A writer should always write with the awareness that his writing is a dialogue with everything that has already been written. Writing, poetry or otherwise, is “a conversation with the dead.”

He gave an illustration: his earliest attempts at poetry were good, solid attempts. But his poetry wasn’t great until he consciously engaged the work of other poets, picking through style and theme to discern just what had made those earlier writers so great (or not). It isn’t enough just to dismiss the existing body of work and go one’s own way. For writing to be transcendent and lasting, it needs to have that consciousness.

The point of writing, according to Hirsch, is to transcend “the muck and mire” to make something last through language. But writing isn’t self-reliant. If it is to last, it has to build on the existing foundation.

Which is why I think reading is such an important thing for writers. And reading widely–not only in your genre, but across the spectrum, because in the end a lot of it is the same story. Knowing what’s already been said, and how it’s been said, and why it’s been said, is an important part of making sure your writing has something to add to the conversation.

Guess I need to go read some Edward Hirsch now…