Right: Nether Stowey, The Ancient Mariner Pub (click to enlarge)One tends to think of poets as lonely souls who wander cloud-like through life's ethereal by-ways. Swift, however, reminds us of the very real and beneficial friendships that have bolstered so much of our literary heritage. We think of the poetically symbiotic relationships between Keats and Shelley, Wordsworth and Coleridge, Edward Thomas and Robert Frost - to name but three.
Swift's point in writing was, I feel, to explore the nature of poetic relationships in these days of nepotism in the world of publication. Politics aside, I know that I have benefited greatly from the tutelage of others and from the community of 'poets who blog'. I thought Swift's post was a good reminder of the help that we can be to one another as we pursue our passion to write.
2 comments:
I followed the link - interesting. Thanks.
I prefer to think that poets support each other because of a shared interest and that they do often get to like each other. I think there's a lot of mutual support around as well as chasing publication.
I read this post and then Todd's article - interesting. Thanks.
Post a Comment