Wednesday, April 25, 2007

More strong words ...

... Terrible poet - great museum.

Well, I don't think Wordsworth is a terrible poet - try "Tintern Abbey," Sam - and I don't think "Daffodils" is a terrible poem (though it's far from being a great one). I do think it fair to point out that Wordsworth says nothing in the poem about daffodils being lonely. The phrase is "lonely as a cloud." J.B. Priestley got it about right: "His essential poetry, as distinct from his uninspired verse-making, can be reduced to a very small volume, containing ecstatic moments of communion expressed in lines unlike those of any other poet, apparently simple in language and structure but curiously haunting, necromantic, as if brought from some depth of ancient incantation."

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