[W T Clark]

Originally Posted by Mark McDonnell

And I think we have a different view of poetry, Cameron. I'm not really interested in whether a particular poet has "done more" for poetry or has "set it back" as though it's a project with a defined forward trajectory to some ideal destination. When I read Larkin, I read someone filled with compassion, desperation, self-loathing, cynicism, yearning, wit, pettiness, insight, wonder. Messy humanity in other words. That, and unsurpassed poetic skill.

Mark, I don't read poetry as a project, though I do believe that Larkin set back English poetic expression. I read it for language; language made new. That's all.