Regarding my last reading
17 January 2007 05:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
larryhammerPegasus Descending is indeed chock-a-block full of bad poetry. Only once, while reading the William Morris entry, did I find myself thinking, "This isn't bad enough," and that only until I hit the last stanza -- or rather, until the last stanza bitchslapped me down. Unlike The Stuffed Owl, there's very little that's merely mediocre. OTOH, it also doesn't plumb the abysmal depths as often as The Stuffed Owl -- I laughed often, but rarely gagged. Definitely worth getting, if you're into this sort of thing.
Plus it's educational. I learned that:
1) The Thomas Holly Chivers of the reboantic Norns was a rival, rather than disciple, of Poe -- he once accused Poe of plagiarizing "The Raven" from a poem of similar manner and matter. This, from a poet described by a sympathetic critic as "the supreme example of genius wholly unregulated by any talent whatever."
2) There exists an anthology called The Worst English Poets ed. by Christopher Adams (London, 1958). Clearly, I must acquire a copy and report back. I'm willing to take these bullets -- so you don't have to.
---L.
Plus it's educational. I learned that:
1) The Thomas Holly Chivers of the reboantic Norns was a rival, rather than disciple, of Poe -- he once accused Poe of plagiarizing "The Raven" from a poem of similar manner and matter. This, from a poet described by a sympathetic critic as "the supreme example of genius wholly unregulated by any talent whatever."
2) There exists an anthology called The Worst English Poets ed. by Christopher Adams (London, 1958). Clearly, I must acquire a copy and report back. I'm willing to take these bullets -- so you don't have to.
---L.