I was once sent for, to recite Tennyson's Crossing the Bar at the deathbed
of an eighty-year-old.
And no remarks about Tennyson, please! -- it was what she knew would do the
trick for her, and I was glad to oblige.
Correction, that should read *honoured to oblige.
joanna
>> Art vs Real Life? Isn't that a fake binary? I don't see one obscures the
>> other; I can see how each might inform and enrich and vitalise each
>> other.
>
>
> Dear Alison
>
> I am not being aggressive here, but I cannot see how or what sort of
> sub-Leavisite cliches like 'inform and enrich and vitalise' can apply. I
> don't think they'd be of much comfort (earlier this year my Vixen tried
> doing a stint as a hospital visitor - she found herself talking to people
> almost on the point of death, who were at times in tears, she couldn't
> handle it, as she just broke down too - what can you say? Maybe nothing.)
>
> I really can't imagine if we went up to the mental hospital and told Umi
> that poetry was there for her to 'inform and enrich and vitalise' that it
> would hold much cachet for her.
>
> Sorry, but all the best
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alison Croggon" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2005 10:12 PM
> Subject: Re: People as a broken objects reassembled:
>
>
>> On 19/12/05 9:03 AM, "David Bircumshaw" <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > The point of posting this is that at times one realises just what a
>> > load
> of
>> > hot air poetry, and even more so, discussions about poetry can be. I
> hope
>> > this doesn't come across as cynical.
>>
>> Art vs Real Life? Isn't that a fake binary? I don't see one obscures the
>> other; I can see how each might inform and enrich and vitalise each
>> other.
>>
>> Discussions about anything can be a load of hot air; I can't see how the
>> human passions and desires and fragilities that they express are not,
>> however, part of life.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> A
>>
>>
>> Alison Croggon
>>
>> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
>> Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
>> Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
>
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