tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post7056439898390507313..comments2024-03-27T07:14:36.800-04:00Comments on <b>Dawn Potter</b>: The Poetic Sentence: Thoughts about John Donne’s “The Triple Foole” Dawn Potterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07500960150846895633noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-80986572878304248172014-07-02T13:31:25.019-04:002014-07-02T13:31:25.019-04:00Hardly noticed. Hardly noticed. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-72848540007655381502014-07-01T06:46:01.172-04:002014-07-01T06:46:01.172-04:00Can you tell I've been sleep-deprived for a we...Can you tell I've been sleep-deprived for a week?!Dawn Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07500960150846895633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-32265018888304167942014-06-30T21:42:46.200-04:002014-06-30T21:42:46.200-04:00You're welcome. BTW the first part was a quota...You're welcome. BTW the first part was a quotation from you. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-27142781236598981142014-06-29T05:37:51.043-04:002014-06-29T05:37:51.043-04:00Bill, thank you for this brilliant comment. (I'...Bill, thank you for this brilliant comment. (I've been away, so I apologize for not responding sooner.) I agree with you: "things get stranger." The movement of the sentence is, as you describe it and as I also experienced it, at the heart of this poem's mystery. Yes, on one level, I know what the speaker is trying to get across. On another level, I hear everything you note: modesty, excuses, self-deprecation, untrustworthiness, evasion. Thanks for explicating the enigma so cogently.Dawn Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07500960150846895633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-76460223324670360202014-06-24T15:43:58.777-04:002014-06-24T15:43:58.777-04:00But after the semicolon, things get stranger. As t...But after the semicolon, things get stranger. As the sentence shifts from a statement to a question, the speaker lays out a series of linked but incongruous phrases. “But where’s that wiseman,” he asks. Immediately he undercuts the question with the self-deprecating “that would not be I.” Or should I read this as an excuse rather than as modesty? Suddenly I find myself not entirely trusting this speaker. What is he trying to evade? The sentence continues, deepening my confusion. “If she would not deny?” Deny what? Are words missing here? The sentence feels as if it’s been chopped off mid-phrase. Typically, “deny” would be followed by a noun phrase or a dependent clause: for instance, deny my love, deny that I am a foole. As it is, the question leaves me hanging. I don’t understand what’s going on. All I know is that I am confused, suspicious of the speaker, and curious about this enigmatic “she,” this mysterious “deny.”<br /><br />I am two fooles, I know,<br />For loving, and for saying so<br /> In whining Poëtry;<br />But where’s that wiseman, that would not be I,<br /> If she would not deny?<br /><br />There is no wise man who would not choose to be me, if she would not deny my request for love (sex) but accept it. Really not so hard. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-28195575056934356592014-06-18T10:30:59.736-04:002014-06-18T10:30:59.736-04:00Amazing, isn't it? I'd actually been warne...Amazing, isn't it? I'd actually been warned by a poet/teacher friend that teachers' journals would be very unlikely to publish my (or his) thoughts about teaching poetry. I wondered what he meant, and now I know.Dawn Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07500960150846895633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-84345996458144290552014-06-18T10:17:47.206-04:002014-06-18T10:17:47.206-04:00I have a friend whose daughter is in a long-distan...I have a friend whose daughter is in a long-distance learning class and was given "F" on an analysis of a poem because it contained too many semicolons. Never mind that every semicolon was used correctly and that the analysis rivaled that of published critics.Maureenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.com