I'm going to jump on the anti-bandwagon bandwagon also. "Stiffened" it is for me, too, primarily for the metrical reasons explained by Rhina, though secondarily I think Henry has made a good case for naturalness over "made stiff." At any rate, it had exactly the effect of "stiffening" the line that I think it was intended to have, and I like it very much, along with this whole poem. Quite outstanding, and serious congratulations are in order.
Chris
|