Thanks, Bob. I’ve already ordered a copy of the Wilbur book from Alibris. I’ve been meaning to read his essays for a while now.
And David, I remember that review on Alicia’s book too, and have seen similar pieces elsewhere. Given what Bob is saying about “many others who are not overtly hostile, but do not seem to recognize [rhyme’s] importance,” no wonder a lot of people don’t have the discernment to tell the good rhyming from the bad.
It makes you wonder: is it just a matter of not having read a lot of poetry of the past? If a person (or critic) loves the sonnets of Shakespeare, say, or Donne or Keats or Emily D., why would that person not like rhyme in a poem of the present, assuming it’s done well and the poem is substantial and written in current idiom, etc.?
Beats me.
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