Pound vs. Eliot

[milo]

To me, you can't really know what sort of a fruit you're dealing with, until you cast your gaze upon the tree its fallen from. Even then, it takes some familiarity with the entire orchard to really know what's going on. That is to say: the approach I advocate and attempt to embody isn't merely psychoanalytic. It is also hermeneutic.

Granted, I'm an amateur, and this thread sprung from a desire to write about poets and poetry as much as anything. My speculations on these matters, I can readily concede, are just that: speculations. That doesn't mean that they are all completely ill founded or entirely without merit.

You think this sort of behavior is a distraction from properly "literary" discussion. That this position essentially ignores the most significant developments in literary theory in the past 40 or so years is something that seems to give you absolutely zero pause.

You (and many others that need to justify a position) believe that writing /needs/ an author to exist, to have purpose or meaning.

It's just not the case. Authorial intent has no effect at all on the actual words. Meaning is determined by the /reading/ not the writing, a good author observes and reports. If an effective analysis is dependent on knowing the author (other than cultural and social issues surrounding the times) than the writing fails.

But writing does need a writing author, in the same way that speech needs a speaking subject. If you're going to assert otherwise, offer some reasons to back your position up, which seems extreme to the point of absurdity

If you need examples you can look at any words ever written and consider how the words would change if they were author less but you are clearly impatient. Start with Beowulf then. Would the poem suddenly become better if it had an author?

. Furthermore, I'm not sure what you mean by saying that "authorial intent has no effect at all on the actual words." That seems either carelessly phrased or downright false.

it is both perfectly phrased and true. You need to slow down and chew the words before you respond. The meaning g and effect of words is determined by the reading, regardless of an author's wishes, the words need to stand alone.