Quote:
Originally posted by Michael Cantor:
[b]Dissension Rides Again
No man told Pope the form that he must use,
defined the rhyme scheme, length, and meter too . . .
|
How’s That Again?
Nothing except the fashion of the age.
Chaucer of course had used the form before,
and Denham* and Dryden had refined the ore,
making heroic couplets all the rage.
No Pound or Eliot to dictate rules,
the classics and his forebears shaped his tools.
..
*O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
<FONT >..My great example, as it is my theme!
..Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull,
..Strong without rage, without o’erflowing, full.
........—Sir John Denham, from
Cooper Hill (1642),
..........on comparing his verse to the River Thames</FONT s>