[sphinx]

Poetry is fickle. The Muse comes and goes, sometimes disappearing for centuries. My grandfather's generation had two of the immortals, Kipling and Robert Service, but there's really been nothing of much note since.

Naturally Kipling and Service are looked down upon by departments of English -- but I've no doubt that if Homer or Shakespeare returned, they would prefer the manly storytellers with a sense of humor to all the navel-gazing twits spawned by the English departments.

[bannie]

Shakespeare had a tremendous sense of humor!!

;-)