Hi MaryAnn,

You haven't wronged me. :-)

I enjoy the knowledge and appreciation you bring to your anaysis. I put the onus on the author. To extend your musical example further, if the influence's on the composer comes through through in his music without mimicry or outright fawning, but simply puts one in mind of the influence, the original, then that's an artistic interpretation of the whole range of inputs the composer experiences musical and non-musical. If on the other hand, the reference is obvious and cloying, then that's what I object to.

You were not the only one to recognize the Yeats references, appreciative or not, and given that I have not read enough Yeats to fill a thimbull, I must assume everyone's observations to be valid. So it disappoints because it seems closer to the obvious and cloying in that regard. But I did like the poem so it works better for me if I just ignore that aspect of the analysis. Compared to the previous couple poems in the forum, that rambled and intellectualized, I got an immediate sense that a living, breathing, feeling person wrote the piece. That sort of thing draws me in.