Thread: Wallace Stevens
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Unread 02-09-2017, 12:48 PM
William A. Baurle William A. Baurle is offline
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Originally Posted by Michael Ferris View Post
Bill,

I enthusiastically agree with you on this poem. I'm with WS all the way, through tink and tank and tunk-a-tunk-tunk, right to the widow's wince.

I have not read much Browning, but on your recommendation, I shall add him to my Urgently Required Attention list, stat. I'd be pleased for you to send me a link by PM to your poem.

M
Linky is on its way. I am still debating whether or not to post the poem. Bill Carpenter, a friend of mine and someone I trust very highly, suggested that my poem on Stevens and Browning was entertaining but probably not much beyond that.

I'm with W.S. all the way, too. And by all means, please check out some Browning. But avoid the highly anthologized stuff, or at least the songs and tidbits you've seen all over. I suggest Fra Lippo Lippi first, then things like Andrea Del Sarto, and his many longish monologues. The Ring and the Book is an immense tome, and I've barely scratched the surface with that.

But as for Browning's technical powers: he was virtually unrivaled among his contemporaries, except for Tennyson. I'm sure you've read My Last Duchess. There's an excellent line-by-line breakdown of that poem on Youtube, which helps in grasping what the poem achieves.

Last edited by William A. Baurle; 02-09-2017 at 12:57 PM.
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