It's funny. I'd have to reread, but based on what I remember I have the opposite view.
Legolas Send a noteboard - 24/07/2010 10:06:57 PM
I think "infamous" is the right word for the poems. Christabel LaMotte's were bloody awful (IMO). I quite liked Ash's though. Is that a symptom of being male?
About this, that is - I remember preferring Christabel's poems above Ash's, which on the whole I found long-winded and not too interesting.
About interpretation: I don't think the poems are meant to be there as poems, for you to interpret as you wish in their own right. They're devices, ersatz poems, contrived for the sake of the novel they're in. They are the way they are (trite, pretentious, or whatever) because their being that way serves the purposes of the novel. Such flaws as they have are deliberate. I can see why this is frustrating for a poetry lover – they're like a cardboard cut-out of a sex symbol instead of the real thing – but you've got to hand it to Byatt that writing poetry that's bad in exactly the way you want it to be shows incredible skill. It's like a virtuoso trying to sing off-key on purpose – so much more difficult than doing it well.
This is spot on, though. It's a testament to Byatt's incredible skill that she managed to pull those poems off and make them credible as works authored by her two protagonists. The poems aren't as awesome as the letters by a long shot, but they must have been harder to write.
/Other Liteature: Possession by A.S. Byatt
06/07/2010 06:02:40 PM
- 5294 Views
Re: Excuse me. I have a very clear recollection of writing to you about Possession.
06/07/2010 06:43:34 PM
- 1638 Views
I'm sure I did too.
06/07/2010 07:00:06 PM
- 1537 Views
Re: I'm sure I did too.
07/07/2010 12:05:16 AM
- 1496 Views
The main reason for my love of the book are the letters, I would say.
24/07/2010 10:00:13 PM
- 1475 Views
Re: Excuse me. I have a very clear recollection of writing to you about Possession.
07/07/2010 12:04:03 AM
- 1576 Views
Yes, I saw it more as a criticism (satire?) of obsessive academia than a love-story.
07/07/2010 10:34:12 AM
- 1484 Views
Re: Yes, I saw it more as a criticism (satire?) of obsessive academia than a love-story.
09/07/2010 11:45:45 AM
- 1466 Views
It's funny. I'd have to reread, but based on what I remember I have the opposite view.
24/07/2010 10:06:57 PM
- 1464 Views
It's a sign of it being a good book that you can like it for such different reasons from mine.
24/07/2010 10:42:39 PM
- 1580 Views
Re: It's a sign of it being a good book that you can like it for such different reasons from mine.
25/07/2010 09:09:50 AM
- 1458 Views
Re: It's a sign of it being a good book that you can like it for such different reasons from mine.
25/07/2010 10:32:55 AM
- 1467 Views