Word: lindbergh
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Ciardi dripped scorn on the internal structure of Anne Lindbergh's poetry, railed at the placing of commas and her use of grammar ("Am I to assume that Mrs. Lindbergh is actually illiterate?''). A line that went "Down at my feet/ a weed has pressed/ its scarlet knife/ against my breast" Ciardi scoffed at as "the neatest trick of the literary season...
Shriek in High-C. "I must believe," continued Ciardi, author of five books of verse,* "that the art of poetry is more important than Mrs. Lindbergh or than you or than me. I am compelled to believe that Mrs. Lindbergh has written an offensively bad book-inept, jingling, slovenly, illiterate even, and puffed up with the foolish afflatus of a stereotyped high-seriousness, that species of aesthetic and human failure that will accept any shriek as a true high...
With her series of books, and especially her bestselling meditation on the place of women-Gift From the Sea (TIME, March 21, 1955)-Author Lindbergh had built up a large and passionately loyal following among U.S. females, as the first mail deliveries to the Saturday Review quickly proved. "How could any one individual be so cruel?" cried one writer. "I have never seen such cruel, carping criticism of even the trashiest book!" exclaimed another. The Review received a cascade of letters, the vast majority attacking Ciardi's review. Most were from women, and they assailed Ciardi's blunt...
...most pertinent attack of all came from inside the Review itself. In this week's issue, Editor Cousins took over the editorial page to criticize Critic Ciardi's criticism and to extol Anne Lindbergh. "He has given literalness far more sovereignty than it needs or enjoys in verse." wrote Cousins. "Nor can we accept the adjective 'illiterate' when applied to Mrs. Lindbergh or her books. There are few living authors who are using the English language more sensitively or with more genuine appeal...
...Rome, where he is on a leave from his English professorship at Rutgers, Ciardi added more gently: "I think she is a distinguished lady and a great lady indeed -a lady above discussion ... I am not discussing Mrs. Lindbergh, but her performance as a poet." As for Anne Lindbergh, she declined to discuss the matter...