It's possible that MacNeice would have blocked it if he had ever considered finishing & publishing his 1940 autobiographical manuscript, Hal. It struck me when reading it recently as very redolent of that embattled time and of the quasi philosophico-scientific attitude being struck by a certain kind of sensibility - gesturing towards Hume, perhaps, but wanting to make a facetious rhetorical gesture to half conceal its own fatalistic despair. It's a moot point whether MacNeice needs instruction by E.B. White.
mj
And the globe keeps rolling towards a pocket without a bottom although on the way the green cloth field is smooth. - Louis MacNeice
----- Original Message -----
From: Halvard Johnson
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2009 3:37 PM
Subject: Re: more on poets
Auden, I've heard/read, used to say he was a civil engineer,
just to keep the conversation unblocked.
As to the MacNeice, E. B. White might have said, "Block
that metaphor."
Hal
"Anything is art if an artist says it is."
--Marcel Duchamp
Halvard Johnson
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On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 5:53 AM, Martin Walker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In the Observer today -
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/03/poetry-luke-wright-dockers-mc
> There's one good idea for poets here (joining up statements by two of the
> interviewees) - when asked what you do, say "Hi, I'm a wanker", then add "I
> lay my life on the line." Nice pun.
> mj
> And the globe keeps rolling towards a pocket without a bottom although on
> the way the green cloth field is smooth. - Louis MacNeice
>
