poetry

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>Conclusion:  Ms. Dickinson's poetry, while it may not "touch" you in 
the same way as Townshend's, is better.  I have spent far too long 
analizing Townshend's songs and he does not have any of the symbolism or 
masterful metaphores of Dickinson.

No symbolism?  Hmmm.  Then what's the Acid Queen?  The Empty Glass? 
"Drowned" seems to be a fairly decent metaphor.

Uh.  BTW, is that word "analizing" one you use a lot? <blush>


>His poetry, almost without exception does not even attempt to vary from 
the crudest structures.  He does not posses a mastery of the language 
that Dickinson clearly has.  His songs rarely mean anything other than 
what appears on the surface, where as Dickinson's often have several 
levels of meaning.

People argue about interpretation on the lists enough that there have to 
be varying possibilites.  I think I detect several levels of meaning in 
a couple of places.  I agree that some of Townshend's meanings seem 
haphazard rather than thought out.  But it's Jung rather than Freud you 
have to use for the key.  And after all, who am I to complain about 
poetry?


>I must now confess that Dickinson was perhaps a poor example to use 
here, because she does not write the same type of poetry that Townshend 
does, so I will continue this discussion with another poet we are all 
familliar with:  Walt Whitman.

I'm not a big poetry fan, but Whitman doesn't sound right either. You'll 
have to come up with somebody who deals in social issues.  Sandburg, 
maybe? 


keets



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