[quote]Originally posted by Roger Slater:
"... first reaction, which I offer respectfully to a poet whose work I admire, is that the razor is just a fanciful and fun bit of thought-inducing hokum..."
Whole lot of modifying going on here, where "hokum" would do the work. However, if it's "thought-inducing hokum," I suppose it's not all bad.
"Among many other things, it occurs to me that one formula covering dimeter lines and heptameter lines alike is unrealistic, since there's a lot more room in longer lines for modifyers than there is in shorter lines."
Roger, this sounds like an excuse for padding. "Room" shouldn't justify flabby writing no matter the line length.
Thomas Lux asks his students to put on their adverb lenses and their adjective lenses as a device for finding weaknesses in language, mainly nouns and verbs that lack precision. I find the "Razor" a useful tool, especially in revising metrical poetry, where padding the meter is an obvious danger.
Bob
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