Quote:
Originally Posted by W T Clark
Sorry, David, for gatecrashing your thread.
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No worries, Cameron.
I thought it was aimed at beginners, rather than teenagers, but I know the categories will inevitably overlap.
I don't really see anything wrong with the warning about Dante. If you are coming to him, after some acquaintance with Shakespeare's much more equivocal world, the contrast can be quite a shock. (I'm not saying it's a bad thing to be shocked.) There is so much downright dogmatic certainty in Dante. It is (
pace Andrew) not very appealing.
I've never read any Hart Crane, but I do like Larkin. And I've never read any Maya Angelou either, but I'm sure she will pop up in most beginning poetry-lovers' reading nowadays, so he's probably right to mention her.
And I like Geoffrey Hill (never heard of Barry MacSweeney!), but I suppose he's got to draw the line somewhere.
There was someone else I was surprised to find missing from the index, but I can't think who that was now.
David