For Poets Today Or In Any Age,

When Mr Ackroyd Says That In The 18th Century, Stranglers Bit Off The Noses Of Their Victims, I Feel That He Probably Knows What He Is Talking About. I Just Wish He Hadn't Told Me.

Among Those Today Who Believe That Modern Poetry Must Do Without Rhyme Or Metre, There Is An Assumption That The Alternative To Free Verse Is A Crash Course In Villanelles, Sestinas And Other Such Fixed Forms. But Most... Are Rare In English Poetry. Few Poets Have Written A Villanelle Worth Reading, Or Indeed Regret Not Having Done So.

Generally Speaking, Rhyme Is The Marker For The End Of A Line. The First Rhyme-word Is Like A Challenge Thrown Down, Which The Poem Itself Has To Respond To.

Considering The Wealth Of Poetic Drama That Has Come Down To Us From The Elizabethan And Jacobean Periods, It Is Surprising That So Little Of Any Value Has Been Added Since.

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.