[lbo-talk] sailing poem

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
Sat Oct 12 19:36:48 PDT 2013


On Sun, 13 Oct 2013 02:17:48 +0000 (UTC) "JOANNA A." <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:


> Ah, yes, Marvell. I don't know why people say Donne is hard. I think
> Marvell is much, much harder.

Hmm. That would not have occurred to me, but now that you say it, I see it.

Maybe it's the difference between the Jacobean world and mid-century, with revolution and commonwealth and restoration -- one had to be a little Aesopian, one had to hedge one's bets, one had to depend on the wink and the nod. Perhaps indeed one didn't always know just *what* one thought until one had said it. If then.

Unless, of course, one happened to be that nonpareil John Milton, than whom, I think, no more admirable figure ever wrote English.

I love to think of Johnnie and Andy and Mr Dryden, the theatrical gent, all sitting in a room together. It might have happened! Oh to be a fly on that wall.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list