Doorways Into Worlds

A Facebook discussion with Langdon Jones has allowed me to clarify certain ideas I've had in mind for a while, now....

Sometimes, I dislike the work of a poet or a story writer because I see glaring lapses in technique, but more often, I can't find doorways into their worlds: I can't find experiences, or metaphors, or concerns that resonate with mine. It's not a lack of quality that I miss, but a lack of commonality.

Edwin Muir, for example, returns constantly to certain ideas, certain images and metaphors, that are clearly important to him, clearly essential to his being. I can acknowledge the skill he applies in expressing them. But his concerns are not mine, and his metaphors, drawn clearly from his own experience, don't connect with mine. In a sense, we speak different languages.

This leads to other implications. One likely reason for Shakespeare's broad appeal (broader than, say, the appeal of an otherwise drop-dead brilliant playwright like John Webster), is that he draws from a wide range of experiences, metaphors, images, and character types -- certainly more so in the plays than in the more limited sonnets. In a Shakespeare play, there's often something for everyone, and if one metaphor goes right through you, the next five or six that follow in kaleidoscopic fashion might connect with a personal impact.