So art is different from the rest of human life. And how one feels
about x has nothing to do with context. Do you really believe this?
Probably nearly every argument of the living is irrelevant to the
dead, even if one believes in an afterlife. Remember the (almost) end
of Chaucer's Troilus?
And whan that he was slayn in this manere,
His lighte goost ful blisfully is went
Up to the holownesse of the seventh spere,
In convers letinge every element;
And ther he saugh, with ful avysement,
The erratik sterres, herkeninge armonye
With sownes fulle of hevenish melodye.
And doun from thennes faste he gan avyse
This litel spot of erthe, that with the see
Embraced is, and fully gan despyse
This wrecched world, and held al vanitee
To respect of the pleyn felicitee
That is in hevene above; and at the laste,
Ther he was slayn, his loking doun he caste;
And in him-self he lough right at the wo
Of hem that wepten for his deeth so faste;
And dampned al our werk that folweth so
The blinde lust, the which that may not laste,
And sholden al our herte on hevene caste.
And forth he wente, shortly for to telle,
Ther as Mercurie sorted him to dwelle. --
At 07:59 PM 3/27/2006, you wrote:
>On 28/3/06 9:51 AM, "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > It becomes easier not to take sides as the
> > relevance of the poem erodes. For me Pound (more
> > Cathay and the Cantos) remains relevant.
>
>Ah, I see: for my part, I don't think "relevance" really matters in art. At
>least, not in the ways I see it used (topical, contemporary, useful). I'm
>kind of in the stream that thinks, with Pound, that in the end it is feeling
>that remains.
>
>(Sides? Probably Pound and Eliot are giggling over this in poet heaven...)
>
>Best
>
>A
>
>
>Alison Croggon
>
>Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
>Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
>Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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