Well, this has been interesting, & I'll take Donne (sometimes the
'canon' gets it right, after all) for sure.
But the contexts are so beyond me, at least, that I can only read both
as coming form somewhere definitely else.
And requiring that shift of mindset so much of the past demands. Yet,
in so many of his poems Donne does sound 'modern,' as does, in her own
way, fragmented Sappho. Is it possible that when writing about 'love' &
'desire' poets of the past still touch us where we feel, while in
matters of 'faith' it is more difficult to connect, as it's
spirit/mind/ideology at work, not just body/perception/feeling?
I doubt it's so simple, & don't really know, but although I can greatly
admire, for example, Donne's Holy Sonnets, I much prefer to read his
profane poetry.....
Doug
Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta T6G 2E5 Canada
(780) 436 3320
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
He saw the dark as a ragged garment
spread out to air.
Through its rents and moth-holes
the silver light came pouring.
Denise Levertov
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