For a moment, I thought this was dipodic, but it's only trochaic, at least
after the first line. And if the stanza is predominately trochaic, that
shifts the iambic toward the trochaic. Another example of metrical tension.
(In any case, Auden's sentiments seem just. But who the hell was Paul
Claudel?)

How, by the way, would you scan this line from Lear? "Break, break, break,
break, break!"

jd

On 1/23/07, TheOldMole <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Time, that with this strange excuse
> Pardoned Kipling and his views,
> And will pardon Paul Claudel,
> Pardon him for writing well.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joseph Duemer" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 6:41 PM
> Subject: Re: Dipodic is...? (Re: is dipodic a no-no? )
>
>
> > Yes, even that old imperialist Kipling. I actually memorized reams of
> > Kipling when I was a kid. He could really sling a long verse line around
> &
> > keep it coherent. If we forgive Pound his fascism, or at least look the
> > other way, we ought to do the same for Kipling.
> >
> > Coleridge? Quite simply one of the very greatest -- and saddest -- minds
> > in
> > English Poetry. I did a long biographical essay on his son Hartley many
> > years ago for some reference work or other . . .
> >
> > jd
> >
> > On 1/23/07, Caleb Cluff <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >>
> >> Agree entirely. I defy anyone to read the first few lines of "Frost at
> >> Midnight" and not know they are in the grip of a prescient mind.
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
> >> poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alison Croggon
> >> Sent: Wednesday, 24 January 2007 8:40 AM
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Subject: Re: Dipodic is...? (Re: is dipodic a no-no? )
> >>
> >> I don't understand this kind of generalised putdown. Coleridge is for
> >> my money one of the most delightfully inventive of poets. Kipling and
> >> even Tennyson (of whom I remain fond) have their moments too.
> >> Whatever the problems with him, Kipling could write a storm - read
> >> Said or Borges on his short stories. All poetry, no matter what shape
> >> it is, presents a formal problem; what counts is what the poet does
> >> with it.
> >>
> >> And back in the day, the language wasn't archaic. Just reading an
> >> enormous tome on Dante which reminds you that in 1290 just writing
> >> literature in Italian was totally radical. Milton's blank verse was
> >> the leading edge of its time - his introduction to Paradise Lost is
> >> aggressively brusque. Wordsworth and Coleridge brought "ordinary"
> >> language into poetry. Etc. For me, these people still hold that
> >> initial freshness, though you might have to scrape away a few
> >> barnacles of perception to see it. Cultures always need to neuter
> >> their artists so that, like good pets, they don't have troublesome
> >> offspring.
> >>
> >> All the best
> >>
> >> A
> >>
> >> On 1/24/07, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >> > What a weird quartet. I used to think the way you say you do in that
> >> > note, Kasper, but have changed somewhat. I mean, I can really admire
> a
> >> > lot of the poetry of at least the last two, without ever wanting to
> >> try
> >> > the same thing. I suspect a lot of modern writers feel the same way
> >> > about the great writers of the past.
> >> >
> >> > Doug
> >> > On 22-Jan-07, at 7:05 PM, kasper salonen wrote:
> >> >
> >> > > Kipling/Tennyson/Coleridge/Browning
> >> > Douglas Barbour
> >> > 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> >> > Edmonton  Ab  T6G 0B9
> >> > (780) 436 3320
> >> > http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> >> >
> >> > Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> >> > http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > the words come down on
> >> > the white page    a dream of snow
> >> >
> >> > at mid-Atlantic.
> >> >
> >> >                         Wayne Clifford
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Editor, Masthead:  http://www.masthead.net.au
> >> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> >> Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Joseph Duemer
> > Professor of Humanities
> > Clarkson University
> > [sharpsand.net]
>



-- 
Joseph Duemer
Professor of Humanities
Clarkson University
[sharpsand.net]