Against Confidences (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Donald Davie
- First Published: 1958
- Type of Work: Meditation
- Genres: Poetry, Meditation
- Subjects: Culture, Friendship, Individuality, Truth, Personality, Popular culture, Loneliness, Psychiatry or psychiatrists
The Poem
Formally, “Against Confidences” consists of eight quatrains, with very short lines of between three and five syllables and an exact alternating rhyme scheme of abab. The poem argues against the modern popularity of pouring forth intimate details, whether in tell-all books, confessional poetry, psychoanalysis, or personal relationships. In a humorous and satiric tone, the poem explains how “Candour,” one of the poem’s series of personified abstractions reminiscent of the British neoclassical verse that Donald Davie esteemed, has changed in its...
[The entire page is 1249 words long]
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