Which reminds me, Francis, Cope may well be playing with the trundling
rhythms of the neo-classicals in this poem.
Mairead
On Thu, 1 Jun 2000, Francis M (HaSS) wrote:
> The poem is not a very good one. Wendy Cope has written better (eg
> condensing 'The Waste Land' to five limericks). Nevertheless, it seems to me
> a bit literal minded to see it as a hymn of hate to men. For one thing, I'm
> quite sure she doesn't hate men (she has one poem, a pastiche of the 'My Cat
> Jeffrey' passage from Jubilate Agno, which is surprisingly moving in its
> attempt to understand the male psychology of a lover - surprisingly because
> it is after all only a piece of light verse). But more importantly I think
> we ought to distinguish between hate and banter, which is only a sort of
> flirting in reverse.
>
> By the way, she has another poem called 'TUMPs', or Typically Useless Male
> Poets, which, as stereotypes go, scores a few hits - at least it's pretty
> true of me
>
> Best wishes
>
> Matthew Francis
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]
> 01443 482856
>
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