-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Baker [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 1998 1:34 PM
To: 'cris cheek'
Subject: RE: understanding / meaning / difficulty
Hello Chris,
thanks for the reply:
>I write, and read, with the strong suspicion that 'communication' is a hit
>and miss affair. Those 'meanings' which i intend are not necessarily those
>meanings which any two or more readers will necessarily 'get' or reach
>concensus on.
This is my experience exactly, in both reading and writing. Some of the
best effects of a poem can seem to happen accidentally, in opposition
to any conscious aims.
I was thinking in my post about a more basic level, where attention to
the meanings (oops!) of words in, say Elizabethan English, are important,
and to read
'who would fardels bear'
without knowing what a fardel is, is to misread. Probably 'misread' is
wrong - but it would certainly be to miss the impression that the phrase
would have on its original hearers.
>I'd ask from which department of higher authority
>one might apply for a license?
Yes, higher authorities are always suspect, but a little humility towards
people who know more than me is something I'll always try for.
love the Roman galley bit,
Best
Alan.
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