I was referring to Larkin, not the essay.
Mark
At 06:23 PM 1/17/2005, you wrote:
>It was sort of int'resting and pretty dull, though Nietzsche is a gas
>it wasn't cool and plain wrong about Ezra who was a sorry fool at last
>whom I at least identify with though most of his sins are not mine
>but I sure as hell know was no simpleton in whatever respect you mean
>
>
>Mark Weiss wrote:
>
>>A better question might be "can I really read another word of anything so
>>boring?"
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>
>>At 05:43 PM 1/17/2005, you wrote:
>>
>>>Interesting essay on Larkin and the morality of poets at Poetry Daily. Not
>>>sure if I agree with some of his contentions - "we, the wise and tolerant
>>>poetry reading audience", say, begs a few questions, though it must be at
>>>least partly ironic - but provoking all the same on a few old chestnuts -
>>>especially on the gender questions at the end. Reminds me that I once
>>>started a female version of Notes From Underground.
>>>
>>>"When Larkin¹s defenders and detractors find themselves debating
>>>whether the
>>>poet can speak ³for us² � whether he is, in essence, ³normal² �
>>>they¹re
>>>acting out a script written by the poet himself, who all along has been less
>>>interested in aphoristic wisdom than in dramatizing the individual¹s
>>>emotional relationship to the group. Larkin¹s poems demand a personal
>>>connection, and responding to them with disgust is every bit as personal as
>>>responding to them with love. Pound, in many ways a less complicated poet
>>>than Larkin, never forces us to relate to his art in this way � when
>>>we ask,
>>>in reference to Pound, ³Can a bad man be a good poet?² we aren¹t covertly
>>>wondering about our own normalcy. But when we ask the same question about
>>>Larkin, we¹re often really saying, ³Could we really be anything like
>>>this ?²
>>>He needs to be bad so that we can stay good."
>>>
>>>http://www.poems.com/essaorr.htm
>>>
>>>Best
>>>
>>>A
>>>
>>>
>>>Alison Croggon
>>>
>>>Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
>>>Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
>>>Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
>>
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