tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post972129682131518347..comments2024-03-23T20:37:37.891-07:00Comments on First Known When Lost: A. E. Housman: Three Variations On A ThemeStephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-18860494903793879332012-01-27T11:13:29.557-08:002012-01-27T11:13:29.557-08:00Henry Miller: thank you for visiting, and for your...Henry Miller: thank you for visiting, and for your comments.<br /><br />Given the noisome nature of "conventional modern tastes" over the past 100 years (in poetry and in the arts in general), I tend to take the view that anything that "modern taste" finds "offensive" is most likely something that is good, and worth looking into. (Such as Housman's poetry.)<br /><br />As for the "patent artificiality" of Housman's poetry, I suppose that one person's "patent artificiality" is another person's "imagination." For example, I find Pound's Cantos to be "patently artificial," whereas I find Housman's poetry to be imaginative.<br /><br />As for the caricature of Housman as "a dryasdust, asexual London scholar," I'm sure that you and I agree that it is a broad, lazy caricature, and only tells a small part of the story. (To wit: Moses Jackson.) It is akin to caricaturing Wallace Stevens as "a dryasdust, asexual Connecticut lawyer who worked for the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company for 47 years." Neither caricature is of much use when it comes to their poetry, is it?<br /><br />Thanks again for stopping by, and for your thoughts.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-25397086413736034752012-01-26T19:43:50.893-08:002012-01-26T19:43:50.893-08:00As offensive perhaps to conventional modern tastes...As offensive perhaps to conventional modern tastes as Housman's poetry itself is its patent artificiality. Rustic songs of love and early death being written by a dryasdust, asexual London scholar. I venture they'd be more acceptable if they'd been written by a latter-day John Clare.Henry Millernoreply@blogger.com