Shelley begins his “A Defense of Poetry” by making a distinction between reason and imagination: “Reason is the enumeration of quantities already known; imagination is the perception of the value of those quantities, both separately and as a whole.”
Tag Archives: poetry
Plato’s Phaedrus
Phaedrus addresses much of the subject matter contained in Gorgias, rhetoric and right living, and closes with a discussion of writing. Yet these discussions are products of the pair’s original topic: love.
Iliad Observations
In my old undergraduate notes, I found some sections from Great Books that deal with the Iliad. I cannot give the exact reference, as whatever professor gave me the photocopy had neglected to put in that information. If anyone knows, please let me know so I can give proper credit. From David Denby’s The New [...]
Poetry Find
A retired colleague, Nelson Miller, has started a blog called The Jackdaw’s Nest. He introduces it: I’ve started a blog which deals entirely with poets who aren’t well known in order to sort of introduce them to interested folk. All but one of the 12 entries so far are non-English speaking poets. Thanks to Debra [...]
An Ancient Gesture
I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron: Penelope did this too. And more than once: you can’t keep weaving all day And undoing it all through the night; Your arms get tired, and the back of your neck gets tight; And along towards morning, when you think it will [...]
The Primary Epic
The primary epic comes from an oral literary tradition as a possible accumulation of lays or episodes. They are shaped by a literary artist from historical and legendary materials which had developed in the oral traditions of his nation during a period of expansion and warfare.
The Secondary Epic
Secondary epics are also called literary epics and were composed by sophisticated craftsmen in a deliberate imitation of the traditional form. Their efforts is attempt to use again in new circumstances what has already been a complete and satisfactory form of literature. The literary epics are composed more for readers in their structure and language. [...]
