From an idea suggested by Robert Graves in On English Poetry
I. Thesis
Formalist poetry to attention stands In ordered meters, ranks and files and lines Of scansion as determined by disciplined minds And set in place through skillful strategy
II. Antithesis
Other poetry slouches indolently, insolently with its louche trilby askew Sleeping late, smoking cigarettes, sauntering off for a beer Through scansion as admitted by the heart or the pancreas or something And seldom set in place at all unless it just sort of happens
III. A Perhaps Unnecessary but Useful Conjunction
But
IV. Synthesis
All poems ramble the same neighborhood In quest of the true, the beautiful, the good
Your ‘umble scrivener’s site is: Reactionarydrivel.blogspot.com
It’s not at all reactionary, tho’ it might be drivel.
Lawrence Hall’s vanity publications are available on amazon.com as Kindle and on bits of dead tree: THE ROAD TO MAGDALENA, PALEO-HIPPIES AT WORK AND PLAY, LADY WITH A DEAD TURTLE, DON’T FORGET YOUR SHOES AND GRAPES, COFFEE AND A DEAD ALLIGATOR TO GO, and DISPATCHES FROM THE COLONIAL OFFICE.