Quote:
Originally Posted by John Whitworth
There you are. You were right all along. That carping fellow has no ear.
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'That carping fellow' spotted a metrical irregularity which may, on closer inspection, have turned out to be only a metrical snare.
Isn't that what good criticism does? Makes us
notice things?
'That carping fellow' also has the good sense to notice just how good Fenton is - no mean feat with a poet whose output is as slim and neglected as William Empson's.
I sometimes feel as if my own adulation of Fenton is as niche and deplorable as a penchant for beige suede slip-ons;- or being gay even.