CreedAnd so many men said many things and every man was fully persuaded in his own mind. -Jocelin of Brakelond
I believe that compression and image are essential to good poetry, but are not an end in themselves. I believe in experimentation and not in cults. I believe in the sound of words. By that I mean words that sound as if they grew together, although they may be common and not particularly beautiful in themselves. I believe and regret that everyone is caught in the flow of some poetic movement and is greatly influenced by it. I believe that the excellence of a poem is to a great extent measured by whether its meaning increases or decreases with repeated readings. I believe that everything good has its place in poetry, but I have a greater weakness for some things than others. I believe that perspective is far more important than criteria in judging the worth of poems. I believe in Shakespeare and Shelley and Keats and Ezra Pound and Elinor Wylie and Edith Sitwell (though I often have my doubts there) and I should probably mention Homer. I had a passion for Alfred Noyes when I was in the eighth grade and may have one for Hart Crane by next year. One never can be sure about things like that. |
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