I guess I wonder why it's so important to experience poetry without letting any of one's feelings about the poet seep in. I mean, it's generally stated as almost a moral principle, and I can almost answer the question myself. I know what it is generally said on the subject. But is it wrong to find a poem by your own child particularly charming and sweet? It would be wrong to let that influence your evaluation of the poem in your doctoral thesis, but as part of the human activity of reading poems and experiencing art and pleasure, would you as a parent deny yourself the pleasure of excessively enjoying your child's mediocre offering? And by the same token, outside the context of your doctoral thesis or a review you are writing for the New York Review of Books, why is it wrong to dislike a certain poet's work because you dislike the poet?
Poetry is not a chemical compound that must be examined under a microscope in a controlled environment -- or at least it's not just that. It's also something that can be integrated into our lives. If your father was fond of reciting a certain poem, and you have fond memories of those recitations, then that poem, for you, can be experienced with additional pleasure. If your father beat you while reciting the poem, that poem, for you, regardless of its merits, may not be one that gives you pleasure.
Would you really go back to the restaurant where your loved one was murdered? Wouldn't it put a crimp on the dining experience, even if the food was prepared as flawlessly as ever?
|