Oh, I agree about the "representative anecdote", importance of. Why, only
the other day...
How difficult it is to look at a tag like "pastoral" without getting
embroiled in the baggage of its history (indeed, you have to get so
embroiled). I need experts to patch me into any kind of context for greek
models, so can only appreciate much of it through their takes (or by
pinching the bits that suit my purposes, which I suspect is what most
people do). By the time pastoral n bucolic get established in Eng.Po.
(where I've a fighting chance of contextualising) they have become
synonymous with writing-about-where-you-are-not in a way which seldom
engages me other than as a leaping point.
The locals take their holidays by the klein beach (?like a klein bottle -
a way of going away whilst staying put) - but, quoth John Barrell, writing
on Clare amidst the 19th century nature poets, "we are all tourists now" -
so by the time the oral / vocal echo comes, there are just traces of them,
cheshire catlike, in another set of timelapses.
I'm using the frame of crosspost 3 as a mould for a short "matter of
wales" poem, using fragments of Gildas and the Welsh Triads in the mix,
along with some devolution material. I'm just waiting for a text from the
Sec. of State for Wales to use as a setting agent, then, if I may, I'll
pour n serve to the list...
Ric
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