of Victorian poetry, this poem actually expresses an essential quality of the age, its power of synthesis. An Arab love song sung by an Englishman, tenuously linked, if at all, to the real grandeur of Arabic literary tradition, the poem is a cunning disguise. It allows Thompson an intensity unlike anything we find in his other secular poems. If the right hand doesn't always know what the left is doing, this is a left-handed poem. I wish he'd written more.[by Francis Thompson]
An Arab Love-Song
from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Poem of the week: An Arab Love-Song by Francis Thompson
~~~~~~~~~~~
No comments :
Post a Comment