Monday, February 22, 2010

Sound and sense ...

... Cellar Door. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

“Poetry, in fact, is two quite distinct things,” H. L. Mencken wrote in a 1920 magazine column. “It may be either or both. One is a series of words that are intrinsically musical, in clang-tint and rhythm, as the single word cellar-door is musical. The other is a series of ideas, false in themselves, that offer a means of emotional and imaginative escape from the harsh realities of everyday.”

"... a series of ideas, false in themselves ..." Really, Henry? Spoken like a man who understands nothing of poetry.

More here, via Dave: 'Cellar door'--and more.

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