Isn't it a bit risky to assume that there was a most unfortunate
"pre-modernist" poetry which indulged in "purple" writing and which can be
taken as a closed subject? So the only question about a contemporary
writing in that relation is how it manages or not to escape from that
condition? I find that such reference are normally made without going
back to the texts and reading them, on the grounds that it is not
necessary. We all know.
I can't locate this thing. I suppose it would be British, perhaps within
the area very loosely referred to as "Georgian" and/ possibly also "Civil
Service verse"? around 1900-1920? Who are we talking about? Edward
Thomas? Ivor Gurney? Humbert Wolfe? Alice Meynell? Wilfred Gibson? D.H.
Lawrence? Neville Cardus? Walter de la Mare? Siegfried Sassoon? Isaac
Rosenberg? Lascelles Abercrombie? Ezra Pound ? (nothing much purpler in
the world than early EP) ....
Actually I find the "Georgian" zone one of the most interesting areas to
explore these days in search of good poems which have been cast aside by
the canon-factories.
Isn't it a bit risky to assume that there is a thing which can meaningfully
be called "modernism"?
/PR
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