[New-Poetry] for the Bob-list

[Robin Hamilton]

Bob:

>> I think, by reading the sonnet in isolation, you under-rate its radical 
>> nature.

> Robin, as you know, I'm aware of the "radical" reading of the sonnet.

I don't think my reading of sonnet 18 is particularly radical in seeing it 
as part of a strongly tied group (theme, syntax, movement) linking 18-20, 
however one judges an over linking throughout the Thorpe sequence.

I think our disagreement turns not on whether the emotion described is 
heterosexual, homosexual, or homeorotic, but whether one sees the sonnet in 
isolation (in which case you virtually *have to read it as straightforward 
heterosexual address) or whether one sees it as a poem which has to be 
*reread in the light of the two which immediately follow.

It's this forced re-reading which, to me, is one of the major elements of 
interest/innovation in that particular sonnet.

Just what rereading is produced could be a matter for further debate, of 
course.

        <g>

Looking forward to what more you say about the issue on your blog.

Best,

Robin