“It normally happens that if you put two words together, or two syllables together, one of them will attract more weight, more emphasis, than the other. In other words, most so-called spondees can be read as either iambs or trochees.” IfsTwoHappensTogetherWeightEmphasisSyllables Author:James Fenton
“Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done.” IfsDoneFineImpulseGenerousRealisticImitationStemFine ThingsForgery Author:James Fenton
“An aria in an opera - Handel's 'Ombra mai fu,' for example - gets along with an incredibly small number of words and ideas and a large amount of variation and repetition. That's the beauty of it. It's not taxing to the listener's intelligence because if you haven't heard it the first time round, it'll come around again.” IfsFirstsIdeasNumbersHeardHavensExampleAmountFirst TimeRoundsOperaListenersRepetitionVariationSmall NumbersAriaHandel Author:James Fenton
“My feeling is that poetry will wither on the vine if you don't regularly come back to the simplest fundamentals of the poem: rhythm, rhyme, simple subjects - love, death, war.” IfsWarFeelingsSimpleSubjectsFundamentalsRhythmRhymeSimplestVinesLove Death Author:James Fenton
