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> So poetry in English became serious when someone tried rock climbing in > ice > skates, Bob? Is that why they're lying on the ground (I presume the > climber > is too). It's crampons you need, not skates. > > Ok, I'm being jokey, but, if this refers to the Prelude (does it?) it > seems > to have forgotten there was a lot before that, with or without skates, > unless nobody's told me that Caedmon or the poets who wrote Deor or Wuld > and > Eadwacer or Beowulf were all fanatical skaters and would be playing major > league hockey if they were alive now. Good work. It's an opinion many may disagree with. "Ascent" may be a problem. It seems to suggest to you that nothing came before. I probably also may need some indication that I am writing of modern poetry in English--i.e. poetry in the language now spoken, more or less. > Maybe it refers to the Thames freezing over in the 17th century, and > Jonson > and Donne and Mr Shakespeare et al have all left their skates off while > they > slip into the Mermaid for some sack? Your levity has become a bit strained, David. > Ok, (again), I don't know what it refers to, but the image of ice (very > shiny stuff) drowns whatever faint glow that latinate luminescence has > while > the following lines are ordinary old-style litcrit fustian with the > well-worn mountain of an image that must be a stump by now so many people > have trodden it ( anyhow too Parnassus is a Greek mountain with a ski > centre > or two and a lift nowadays as well as ancient cave-dwelling muses with a > repressed hobby of tearing tuneful males apart not the place to go ice > skating I'd say) Points worth thinking about. Thanks. I tend to think "ascent" no longer metaphorical enough to ignite visions of Parnassus, etc.--although Parnassus would work in a poem nowadays, having been in retirement long enough to revive. --Bob > It'd work better as a history of Scottish art painting (minus the > references > to England and poetry of course) but with a clergyman and a ribbon or two > thrown in. > > I hope that helps!! (you did ask) > > best > > Dave > > > > On 6 September 2011 19:58, Bob Grumman <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> the luminescence of the ice skates >> lying where poetry in English >> made its first major ascent >> >> I'd greatly appreciate feedback as to whether or not >> >> 1. it works as a poem? >> >> 2. what it means as a critical statement about the history of poetry in >> English is clear? >> >> 3. its meaning as a critical statement (if clear) makes sense? >> >> It is intended to be both poem, albeit a (very minor) poem-within-a- >> larger-poem, and a critical statement. >> >> --Bob > > > > > -- > David Joseph Bircumshaw > "The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is > that none of it has tried to contact us." > - Calvin & Hobbes > Website and A Chide's Alphabet > http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk > The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html > Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw > twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave > blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/ >