Need a poet be clear. One of the desiderata of language, according to
Grice, is clarity (the other is candour). If formalised as a maxim, it's like
i. be perspicuous [sic] -- avoid obscurity of expression
In a message dated 11/5/2015 8:42:05 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx writes:
"Do I contradict myself? Well then, I contradict myself. I am large. I
contain multitudes." I once [quoted that to some addressee and the
addressee] asked: "Multitudes of what?"
The scenario can well apply to Harold Bloom's favourite poet, Whitman.
Suppose it's an imaginary conversation, alla Landor, between Whitman and the
English professor, Bloom:
Bloom: You seem to be contradicting there.
Whitman: Do I? (+> contradict myself?)
Bloom: Well...
Whitman (interrupting Bloom): Well then, I do contradict myself. So what.
Bloom: Well....
Whitman: I am large. I contain multitudes*.
Bloom: Of what?
In a later essay, Bloom may express: "Whitman is not clear what multitudes
he contains. The usual implicature seem to be 'of people', but other
interpretations are possible. Poetic language is never clear, so Whitman knows
what he meant, we hope.
Cheers,
Speranza
The Anglo-Saxon poet is relying on Old French, "multitude", a coinage of
the twelfth century, derived from the Latin accusative, "multitudinem" -- the
nominative is "multitudo" -- literally: "a great number" of unmentioned
things. In most context, of people, i.e. a crowd. It can also mean THE crowd
-- as in the roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd", and
derogatoritly to mean "the common people". As Varro explains in "Lingua
Latina",
"multitudo" is a refined derivation from "multus", many, much" plus a suffix
that my aunt used to use a lot, "-tudo"" (see -tude).
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