I have to say that having scanned for the gist of Germaine Greer's article, I find myself, as often, agreeing with her.
She appears to be attacking the idea that poetry should be 'felt' rather than understood. I think that this idea is counter to the true development of poetry. Earlier on the metrical threads I found myself attacking Betjeman for being inconsequential, in other words, lacking meaningfulness. I think that's a big problem for formal poetry, but it exists only because the doctrine of 'feeling' rather than 'meaning' has allowed a snobbish strand of poets to get away with it.
It seems to me that Germaine Greer is really just opposed to old boy networks and to those who diminish the formal tradition of intelligent poetry exemplified by her beloved Shakespeare.
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