Those of us brought up on the New Critics may find it a tad easier to separate the biography from the poems, having had it beaten into us ("More? You want more biography?") that it was a more than venial sin to read the poet's personal life into his art. I can hear my mentors now: "That's nice, Richard. You shouldn't have Eliot to tea, if you feel that way. Now back to that line you find so offensive. Do you think he's alluding to Coleridge's yew?"
RHE
|