Tim:
What Janet and Tom are saying is that the matter, not the style, are indubitably Murphy's. However, I'd like to think that the method of the writing is also distinctive, that whether I am writing about Pope John Paul II or Feeney, there is a way that I work my sentences through the easy confines of rhymed pentameter that "sounds" like me. Clive once forcefully argued this at Deep End, and I hope he's right.
Tim,
I thought that was too obvious to be worth mentioning but I mention it now.
I have always remarked on the inimitably dense diction of your poems. I tried to fake one once but couldn't.
I think Tom's comparison with the paintings of Matisse is wrong--apart from the element of certainty. I'd say if a visual comparison were possible --and I don't think it is--the sculptor Brancusi would be more apt and perhaps the painter Fernand Leger.
The sonnet form is less typical of your work. Shorter meters usually facilitate your most intense writing.
Janet
[This message has been edited by Janet Kenny (edited July 04, 2005).]
|