[Ed Shacklee]

Originally Posted by Gail White

I remember once hearing John Ciardi (I think it was) analyze Emily Dickinson's poem "A narrow fellow in the grass." You remember, she says that she never encounters a snake
Without a tighter breathing
And Zero at the bone.

Anyway, Ciardi said that if you assigned your freshman writing class to write a poem about an encounter with a snake, they would use phrases like
Without a sudden shudder
And a quiver in the spine.

Genius is so elusive.

Genius or not, if you were in a freshman writing class and wrote

Without a tighter breathing
And Zero at the bone

I wonder what sort of grade you would get, assuming you didn't have Ciardi or someone equally astute as your teacher. Me, I think a little shudder or two is advisable in such a class.


Ed