Cornford's triolet wasn't intended to convey love whatever about persuade(?) As regards the former, it cannot consequently be faulted for any perceived failure in that respect, however it is more successful in the latter in that it does convey a persuasive picture of a indulgent insensitive individual who has insulated herself at least from her immediate surroundings amd most probably intellectually also in Cornford's perception of her.
A parody, however clever it may be, still draws for its inspiration on the creativity of the original. Chesterton's "Fat-head poet that nobody reads" is as cruelly easy as it is inaccurate. Frances Cornford has stood the test of time, and in point of fact was featured by Wiley Clements in one of the later issues of the Susquehanna Quarterly. The onomatapaeia of The Watch is masterful and has rightly earned her a place in all good anthologies.
Housmans's parody is merely an extension of the Cornford conceit
[This message has been edited by Jim Hayes (edited June 13, 2002).]
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