On Sun, 15 Oct 2000, Matthew Francis wrote...
> But certainly when I think of
>Muldoon I think of that studiedly unemphatic manner, those low-key endings -
>very different from clever-cleverness, surely?
I think "Holy Thursday" *is* a very clever poem, though not perhaps in
the usual way of clever poems. The cleverness here is in juxtaposing two
fairly common themes - religion and a failed romance - and setting up
ambiguous links between them. I certainly haven't worked out precisely
how the waiter and the diners are supposed to interact, and I suspect
there isn't one specific answer. But there are all sorts of little
things that trigger questions - things that might be important or might
be throwaway, depending on how you look at the poem. For example, it's
"A waiter" in L3, rather than "The waiter" which might be matter of
fact, but if the waiter is a Christ figure, then it's interesting. And
why is it important (if it is) that it's not clear whether the his meal
is stew or soup? On what level is it important for us to be told that
the chair has been "borrowed", and why "simply"? And *are* the diners
lovers? There's not much to suggest they are except that romantic
relationships tend to be capable of being "over" in a way that others
usually aren't. Yet the diners could conceivably be platonic friends
whose relationship has been destroyed, or even father and son.
Best,
--
Peter
http://www.hphoward.demon.co.uk/poetry/
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