Quote:
Originally Posted by John Isbell
Many of our lexical choices are indeed both erudite and recondite. I could expatiate further, as I am wont, but I digress. The nub - the crux - of my argument is an old one: brief words have weight.
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He's not a formalist, but Larry Levis' "Elegy With an Angel at its Gate" leans heavily on the importance of "its" -- in the title, to be sure, but also throughout. Such an insignificant word, yet so weighty in that long poem.
There are many other examples, of course, but that one springs to mind.