Dear David,
Speaking as a humble geek who writes both sonnets & stuff with ampersands in
(and does this because many types of poem arrive, rather than for a
preceding reason to do with supporting or opposing poetic movements), I'll
second that 'stylistic locator' argument. When I use an ampersand I'm
thinking of Blake/Pound/Ginsberg, I'm even thinking rather irrationally of
Whitman and Dickinson; I don't use caps at the starts of lines because I
find it a bit bicycle-clippish in my work -- which is not a judgement as to
how it comes over in others. And even when for a few years many many many
Commandant Lestrade-like lustrums since I tried doing without caps, I kept
them for the personal pronoun because I could detect that I had an ego and
that it felt rather polished by the little 'i', as in 'what a good buddhist
am i' -- again this is me and not a reflection on others. I even
centre-margined a poem once: will I become a Xmas card contributor?
To the tune of Dr Pepper:
'John Hartley Williams -- so misunderstood!'
Best,
Bill
> > My point here is a double one: (a) I still detect unjustified antipathy
> towards innovators and (b) aren't all the things that Peter calls 'aping'
> actually on one level stylistic locators i.e. a way of signalling where
the
> poet thinks he or she belongs? Just like writing a sonnet in fact. For
> example, I've always thought that John Hartley Williams's use of the
> ampersand, shortened forms like 'cd' and 'wd', strange enjambments was
> precisely that i.e. a playful way of signalling that he's skewed to the
> mainstream in important ways but is not a full-blown non-mainstream
writer.
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