George Macbeth (Vol. 5) - MacBeth, George 1932–
MacBeth, George 1932–
George MacBeth is an "arrogant" and inventive Scottish poet. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 25-28.)
Macbeth has exuberance. He loves to write. But what he writes is so often, at least in [Collected Poems, 1958–1970], premeditated whimsy. A sense of imagination that, as in the case of many British poets today, cannot express itself with honest freedom, as Kerouac, but one that is fettered by structure. His poems, no matter what the subject—and the range is broad—fall into a traditional order of spacing, rhythm, and length (a six martini discussion of "life"). Attempting amusement and intense subjectivity, he creates contrived sets of words—statements after the fact of feeling. Perhaps in this paradox lies Macbeth's appeal. And, to the credit of his paradoxical nature, he is best in the section on the child in man, where there are fewer jarring shifts in tone: for example, these lines from "When I Am...
[The entire page is 2486 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
