I was referring to A. D. Hope not 'formal poetry'. Have you read his essay on free verse, it is available on line, search 'A.D.Hope essays" it is a disgraceful deceptive essay by a man obviously frightened by modern poetry and reacting against it. It so angered me that a professor of english could use such deceptive tactics such as deliberately publishing Eliot and Whitman without using correct line endings and manipulating the text to make his points.. I was disgusted and lost a lot of respect for Hope. I first read Hope 50 years ago and found him wooden and academic, he didn't speak to me. No doubt he wrote some fine work and was and is much loved but when he tried to discredit Eliot and Whitman by deceitful means he lost my vote. And if you don't believe me I will be happy to post his essay and tear it to bits. He didn't to my knowledge ever retract it or apologise for his deceit.
|