More Graves

A few posts back (here) I was talking about the Robert Graves book 'On English Poetry' (1922) that I have been reading of late. On the whole books about poetry and I are not the best of friends but I love whole chunks of this one (and the 'English' is a bit misleading...a lot of it is just about poetry in general). Bits of it are hilariously dated but other sections are still spot on. Here's another chunk of it:

"The History of English Poetry is a subject I hope I shall never have to undertake, especially as I have grave doubts if there really is such a thing. Poets appear spasmodically, write their best poetry at uncertain intervals and owe nothing worth mentioning to any school or convention."

Or try this:

"The poet is the outsider who sees most of the game, and, by the same token, all or nearly all the great English poets have been men either of ungenteel birth or of good family which has been scandalized by their subsequent adoption of unusual social habits during the best years of their writing. To the polite society of their day - outsiders to a man."

Though I guess women are allowed in (or out) now too. Well, sometimes. And on that note there's a great post at the HappenStance blog just now too (here)

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