tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post8888188615294147114..comments2024-03-23T20:37:37.891-07:00Comments on First Known When Lost: "A Swan And Cygnets, Nothing More"Stephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-79430038229337937862011-01-02T14:34:43.815-08:002011-01-02T14:34:43.815-08:00Happy New Year, Tim! Thank you for stopping by aga...Happy New Year, Tim! Thank you for stopping by again.<br /><br />Excellent point on the last four lines of the poem. Although I am fond of Victorian poetry, and although I think that it is sometimes unfairly neglected, some of the generalizations about the Victorian temperament (or, at least, part of it) are correct -- for example, a tendency to seek to arrive at some sort of moral or lesson in order to round things off. The last stanza seems to fall within that category, doesn't it? <br /><br />Your point also reminds me of something that Kingsley Amis wrote about a poem of Housman's: "it is possible to say more in an indirect way than directly." "The Amis Anthology", page 331.<br /><br />As always, thank you, Tim.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-73812678359889137522011-01-02T01:38:34.569-08:002011-01-02T01:38:34.569-08:00A good poem, but I wonder whether he should have c...A good poem, but I wonder whether he should have cut the last four lines?Tim Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.com