This matters a lot I think.
If I say "we go to the beach" fine.
If I say "we dip our toes" also fine.
If I say "we watch the horizon" maybe a bit tricky.
If I say "we contemplate infinite" a bit trickier.
Even "the sea is like crumpled silk" becomes problematic in this context -
whose mind makes this connection?
I agree no knee jerk reactions. No rights and wrongs I suspect but something
worth being very aware of .
Very interesting debate.
bw
H
----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew Francis <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 11:04 PM
Subject: We
> Erminia writes:
>
> >Generally I deeply object (I said that elsewhere on Poetryetc)
> >to using the personal pronoun "we" in poetry.
>
>
> This argument is familiar to me, but just as I felt some people were doing
> in the recent discussion of speech / writing, it seems to me you're
> exaggerating it to the point of self-parody. Not all uses of the word are
> coercive - most of the time they're simply factual. If you dismiss every
use
> of 'we' you'll get rid of half the poems ever written. (And before you say
> good riddance, think for a moment of the consequences when someone else
> takes a blowtorch to what's left for the sake of the next critical fad.)
>
> Pronouns are always problematic in poetry because of the oddly impersonal
> nature of text itself, but I gotta use words when I talk to you. I do
think
> the question of community and the extent to which it can be enacted in
> poetry is a very important one. Poets need to ask themselves when it's
> appropriate to use 'we'. But to give up and say never strikes me as a kind
> of kneejerk nihilism that won't get us any nearer the solution. (Sorry -
did
> I say *us*?)
>
> Best wishes
>
> Matthew
>
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