Jamie, I'll bow out too. We will never see eye to eye on this. It's not really important anyway, compared to the real problems in the world at present.
On Sat, 22 Oct 2016 19:19, Jamie McKendrick wrote:
Hi Jeff,
My view, as you'll no doubt have guessed, is that 'empirical' never
adequately described the range of what you call 'mainstream' poetry anyway,
or at least not the better examples of it, so it's hard to say how far it's
altered during your 16 years of abstinence. As you'll be well aware,
Wordsworth is read very differently from you by many in the avant-garde
tradition, not least by Prynne. The descriptive has many mansions and not
that many look out the same way.
I didn't conclude you were saying these elements I listed 'need
necessarily have no place in poetry that isn't descriptive' but that your
way of reading poems 'largely ignored' them. We seem to agree, though, that
neither of us are likely to convince the other, so with all respect I'll
probably sign off on this,
Jamie
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