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Civilisation and Its Discothèques

The Editors

From Christopher Ricks's forthcoming book True Friendship: Geoffrey Hill, Anthony Hecht, and Robert Lowell Under the Sign of Eliot and Pound, about 'A Certain Slant':

This is finely 'Etched', at the edge of the first line, with 'Edged' likewise at the second line. In its precise finesse, in its unembarrassed self-consciousness, the effect is echt Hecht. (I know, I know, but our poet did advocate 'mens sana in men's sauna', and he metamorphosed Horace's 'Pyrrha' into 'piranha', as well as Wallace Stevens's 'Le Monocle de Mon Oncle' into 'Le Masseur de Ma Soeur'. And he is the justly proud author of Civilisation and Its Discothèques.)


Comments


  • 26 March 2010 at 9:12pm
    loxhore says:
    But there is a difference between 'our poet''s wordplay and 'echt Hecht', which is that 'echt Hecht' is neither wily nor funny.

    Ricks is a critic-as-writer -- a critic-poet.