Pound vs. Eliot

[milo]

"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?"

Beowulf was an epic poem that was told who knows how many times before someone decided to write it. It was an oral tradition. Of course it doesn't have a single author. For this reason, it does not have identity as a work of literature in the same way that, say, anything written by a singular, modern poet does. But if you want to say that the intent of every teller of Beowulf, in whatever sense of the word, didn't play a role in determining its meaning when it was told - or even when it was finally written - you would still need to offer some reason for me to believe that.

What I am saying is that the intent of whoever came up with Beowulf is irrelevant, intent doesn't change or charge words

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


But words are the production, within the context of this present discussion, of an author. And the idea that the author's intent doesn't factor into the words and their meaning is absurd, particularly in the case of modern writers, who practice the craft of writing as individuals first and foremost, workshopping etc. notwithstanding.

Intent cannot change the meaning of the words, the words themselves need to stand alone. This reminds me of an interview with my old friend, Julie Carter, read it, and think about it slowly, especially the part about the eyebrows:

http://www.avatarreview.net/AV10/Miller_interview.htm