An afterthought---I think one cannot depend on allusions
nearly as confidently as one could even 30 or 40 years ago.
The younger readers, including poets themselves, simply
will not recognize them. It doesn't matter how smart they
are; they have not had to learn much factual stuff or
read a great deal---most will not have read the Bible,
or enough classical literature to know much if anything
of Greek and Roman mythology. Hard to know what to do
about this; probably there's nothing that can be done.
I try to make my poems in such a way that they can be understood and enjoyed to a certain extent even by
readers who won't pick up on my allusions or other subtleties, but I have no idea whether I am successful
or not in this.
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