We are all in Clive's debt, but Clive came here to teach, And Adlestrop is a very great poem. There are problems with transatlantic difficulties in language. Catherine, I too thought of Hardy's The Oxen when I encountered Combe, which I know how to pronounce. I can also pronounce Glouchester as "Gloster." I don't think Thomas is a schoolboy's poet, at least not an American schoolboy's poet. You need a lot of poetry under the belt to know what this gifted man is doing.
|