HQ, I think your villanelle is charming; in fact, I like
it rather better than DT's. (Oh--I just realized how
painfully apt his initials are.) Yes, of course one
can like both Thomas and Larkin, etc. I think very
highly of a few of Thomas' poems, including "In My
Craft or Sullen Art" (the most musical and dithyrambic
of any poem in syllabics) and "Refusal to Mourn the
Death &c" and two or three others, but most of his
work, which knocked me out when I was a teenager
(and hearing him read) now strikes me as overdone
and underthought. For me, and I might add, for many
others, there is no comparison between Thomas and Larkin---Larkin is incomparably the better poet. But
to each his own. Or as my old friend Henri Coulette
liked to say when people were arguing about the merits
of this or that poet, "Well. that's horse-racing."
[This message has been edited by robert mezey (edited June 12, 2004).]
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