I'm in a bit of a rush John, bicycling furiously around the garden, etc, but I promise I'll return to think over your points.
Not defending
but I do sometimes worry about scholarly dismantling and conscientious analysis. One can't improve a bird by pulling its wings off. It's a living thing and so is a poem. That's true of all the arts of course.
I once worked with an infamous Lithuanian conductor. No names, no clues
He was very short and had a trick of absent-mindedly whittling away at his wooden leg with a pocket knife while he talked. Once he peered up at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, "Every work of art is a tremulous, dancing thing. The artist's challenge is to let it dance, to resist crippling it or strangling the life out of it."
With great respect, I think that applies to my Kalgoorlie Kestrel. Air and feathers. A swoop rather than a coop. Flight not logic. But I’m trying to see it your way, honest.
[This message has been edited by Henry Quince (edited July 02, 2006).]