I went to the library today and picked up a few new books. Among them is
Hebrew Verse Structure by M. O'Connor - looks interesting - begins with this poem by Marianne Moore (1967: 88)
The Past is the Present
If external action is effete
and rhyme is outmoded,
I shall revert to you,
Habakkuk, as when in a Bible class
the teacher was speaking of unrhymed verse.
He said - and I think I repeat his exact words -
"Hebrew poetry is prose
with a sort of heightened consciousness." Ecstacy affords
the occasion and expediency determines the form.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
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