Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Great Regulars: [Elizabeth] Bartlett herself denied that

she had been neglected as a poet: rather, she said, she had been neglectful about being published. "It suited me to write without an audience," she said, "so that I could do what I wanted without an editor or publisher."

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Elizabeth Bartlett: Compassionate and innovative poet of the fractured self

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Good though the dialect poems are, The Children is unique, a war poem strengthened by a voice that is identifiable with the writer's own. It requires no persona, no special idiom--simply the courage to face facts (a courage [Rudyard] Kipling never lacked), and find plain words and a rolling, liturgical, rhyme-packed rhythm for its expression.

The Children
1914-1918

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: theblogbooks: Poem of the week: The Children by Rudyard Kipling

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