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<Mary L. Tabor>'s avatar

Have you read Archibald MacLeish's poem of this same title? A true gem ...

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John Halbrooks's avatar

Yes—I used to have that poem on my office door!

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A. Jay Adler's avatar

I've regularly taught the MacLeish in tandem with/contrast to William Stafford's "Notice What This Poem Is Not Doing." Opens good discussion and deepened understanding.

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John Halbrooks's avatar

That’s a good idea. I may borrow it in my literary criticism course this fall.

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A. Jay Adler's avatar

Lovely. If you do, I’d love to hear any results.

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A. Jay Adler's avatar

"No switching genres halfway through."

I think Horace would have difficulty with postmodern playfulness.

“He who combines the useful with the agreeable,” Horace writes, “wins every vote, charming by his delight and instructing by his usefulness.”

And might abhor most meta fiction.

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John Halbrooks's avatar

For sure! He would not be a Pynchon enthusiast.

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Harry Roddy's avatar

The idea that a poem should "delight and instruct" reminds me of something I heard Jericho Brown say recently: "every good poem is at heart a love poem." Seemed like overreach at the time, but somehow I still find myself thinking about it.

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