Andrew, in the 2nd millenium I remember responding immediately to Duncan's poem as well. I felt a resonance much more than from most of his others, and for a while this poem was one of those loosely written things that seduced me into a long period of writing formless work, a period I now largely regret! Yet the impact is still there, and while I'd prefer it to be more like one of my own incredibly over-determined and Swiss music box roller coaster formal poems that seem to me to touch exactly the same source, I acknowledge his skill.
What I think is happening here is much less Chomskyish (in his to me fairly dubious linguistic approach), than it might be Jungian as in archetype. (And most of that's pretty dubious to me too!)
If you concentrate on Duncan's central visual imagery, you'll find the kind of material young children can dream about and then recite innocently at the breakfast table, unaware of the loaded structure.
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