More than most artists, poets are free in their creations. Valéry commented that after - and only after - the poet has spoken does he know what he has said. It is also true, and for the same reason, that what the poet has said may be taken in many different ways by his readers. Blake would have agreed with Shelley's note about God at the end of 'Queen Mab', that 'the works of His fingers have borne witness against Him.' In whatever spirit of humility a great poet undertakes to demonstrate a transcendental view of our situation, and justify the ways of God to men, the labours of his imagination will be reinterpreted and even misrepresented by the different vision of later poets.

LRB 15 March 1984 | PDF Download