We are considering one of the hawk poems by hawk-observer, Sir Ted Hughes.
I drown in the drumming ploughland, I drag up
heel after heel from the swallowing of the earth’s mouth
from clay that clutches my each step to the ankle
with the habit of the dogged grave
In a message dated 2/9/2016 2:30:10 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx quptes Helm's commentary:
"Having had the experience of trudging through a soggy field like the one
Hughes describes, my first thought was "what was he doing out there to begin
with"? If I am hiking and see that sort of muck in my way, I do my best
to go around it."
and somewhat as if quoting from Mary Louise Pratt book on Griceian lit.
crit. comments:
"I think the clear implicature is that Ted's tractor had broken down."
And since he was Ted Hughes, OM, perhaps it was the Queen's favourite type
of tractor: a Range Rover.
Now, would a royal tractor break down like _that_?
It should be emphasised that while SOME implicatures may be seen as 'clear'
(if not 'crystal-clear'), they have, by definition, a level of
INDETERMINACY in that, since the utterer can always cancel it out, we never
can, as
Elvis Presley said, tell.
INTERLUDE ON Ted's OM:
As a special mark of honour it offers no title, but members can write the
initials O M after their names. Only a set number of members can exist at
one time, and the poet took the place of composer Sir Michael Tippett who
died this year bringing membership of the Order to its full number of 24. Mr
Hughes' is the 160th appointment to the Order since its foundation.
END OF INTERLUDE.
Back to Griceianism:
I drown in the drumming ploughland, I drag up
heel after heel from the swallowing of the earth’s mouth
from clay that clutches my each step to the ankle
with the habit of the dogged grave
-- but if Ted Hughes, OM, is following Grice (be as informative as is
required -- vide Pratt, op. cit.) shouldn't he say he is driving a tractor in
the first place?
Literally, it would be tractor that drags up, but I guess that doesn't
scan?
Cheers,
Speranza
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