Tim,
when I say a distinctive voice is an accomplishment, it doesn't always follow that that accomplishment takes a long time to appear. Mostly it is an accomplishment of the muse, anyway. But some seem to almost leap from the cradle with a unique style, and I am sure you are right about Greg. You can hear the voice of Keats, for instance, even in his "Imitation of Spenser", written when barely nineteen.
Some take a lot longer to achieve a voice, in full throat, but I suspect that voice was already audible in early work. Sometimes the great achievement is to clarify that voice with age. The process of ageing seems to reduce capacity in all areas, except perhaps the poetic voice. The great Greek dramatists proved this principle long ago, not to mention recent famous examples. The unique voice clarifying. Muffling of a given voice has also been widely noted. Thus the need to serve (and conserve) the voice.
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Mark Allinson
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