Homer's 'Story' May Regain Use as Poetic Device, Muir Thinks

The story, so effective a device for Homer and early balladeers, may soon return to prominence in poetry, Edwin Muir, Eliot Norton Lecturer, said last night in New Lecture Hall.

Wordsworth's greatness came from his application of inspired imagination to instances and situations in the story of common life; in the modern period Frost and sometimes Eliot have also used this device with much success, Muir asserted in his talk on "Wordsworth: A Return to the Sources," the second of three lectures on the estate of poetry.

The story succeeds because its motion in time links it to experience of its audience; life itself moves primarily in time, he said. "The audience is always part of the business, even though it is now often ignored because it is so small," the English poet stated.

The novel's popularity is greatly responsible for the decline of narrative poetry, but novels have failed to use the story with true success, Muir said. "Almost all novels introduce space as well as time and thus replace living images with static descriptions of objects," Muir explained.

Wordsworth failed when his poetry became too obviously philosophic, as have other poets since the invention of the printing press, Muir said.