Robin….point by point:
1) “Oh dear, I just *knew there was a reason why Shelley should never have written "The Masque of Anarchy".”
Was Shelley an avant-garde poet after the pattern of Prynne, Robin?
2) “But then, Jeffrey's purported expertise is in the previous generation of Romantic poetry.”
I don’t know where you got this from Robin. It is certainly true that I have a PhD on Wordsworth and Coleridge from Leeds University, and have had peer-reviewed articles published on the subject, but I wouldn’t claim expertise on the full scope of Romantic poetry.
3) “Shame no one noticed the political side of _The Prelude_.”
I have a chapter on this in my PhD thesis.
4) “Quite right too -- that man Blake should never have written "London", and it was just as well no one paid any attention to him.”
Was Blake an avant-garde poet after the pattern of Prynne, Robin?
5) As for today, and say Tony Harrison -- well, he's not exactly what you might consider "avant guard", and he probably has a narrower readership than Seamus Heaney had for _North_.
Yes, both these observations seem correct—your point being?
6) But I forgot-- we're talking about Prynne, aren't we? Nice to know that Sparty Lea had nothing whatsoever to do with politics -- I'm sure that the ghost of Barry MacSweeney is laughing himself sick somewhere in the background.
I don’t consider MacSweeney to be difficult in the sense Prynne is considered to be. Therefore, MacSweeny’s poetry wouldn’t fall within the limits of my original comment on Prynne.
Original Message:
Oh dear, I just *knew there was a reason why Shelley should never have written "The Masque of Anarchy".
But then, Jeffrey's purported expertise is in the previous generation of Romantic poetry.
Shame no one noticed the political side of _The Prelude_.
Quite right too -- that man Blake should never have written "London", and it was just as well no one paid any attention to him.
As for today, and say Tony Harrison -- well, he's not exactly what you might consider "avant guard", and he probably has a narrower readership than Seamus Heaney had for _North_.
But I forgot-- we're talking about Prynne, aren't we?
Nice to know that Sparty Lea had nothing whatsoever to do with politics -- I'm sure that the ghost of Barry MacSweeney is laughing himself sick somewhere in the background.
Robin
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