Mike:
> Why should it be that we object to this telliness in those places
> where it disturbs?

The polished poet isn't telly. For example, I don't consider Akhmatova
"telly". If a novice were to happen to use some of her lines by a
theoretical coincidence, in all likelihood the result would be telliness.
Coherence is really key. Things need to lead to and to draw from other
things within the poem. The polished poet's poems are coherent and
beautiful. Telliness awkwardly bypasses communication with the reader,
short-circuits the message. If the purpose of sharing is critique, then
I object, or note, when I think the author should have tried harder to
communicate with the reader.

Telliness is like a joke in which the punchline is introduced with
"Here's where you're supposed to laugh." Telliness is like saying to the
reader, "I'd like to communicate the following idea or fact. I'm not
sure how to introduce it, I don't know how to give it a sound grounding,
I'm not sure how to figure out a way to root this idea in imagery and
other development, but it's important to me and I feel something when I
think of this idea, and I hope you will empathize with me, because
surely it's an important idea: here it is."

Carl