مقاله"Preliminary problems" از نادر مقالاتی است که بارها خواندم و هر بار هم لذت بردم. ولی فقط حدس می زنم نام نویسنده "Winter" باشد. اما اینکه پس من این مقاله را از کجا خواندم؟! یکی از اساتید فقط ـبدون هیچ توضیح ـ کپی آن را به ما دادند. نویسنده ۱۲ مسئله مطرح می کند که من به مرور اینجا می نویسم.

 

 

Preliminary problems   First problem Is it possible to say that Poem A (one of Donne’s Holy Sonnets, or one of that poems of Jonson or Shakespeare) is better than Poem B (Collin’s Ode to Evening) or vice versa If not is it possible to say that either of these is better than Poem C (The Cremation of Sam Magee, or something comparable If the answer is no in both cases, then any poem is as good as any other. If this is true, then all poetry is worthless; but this obviously is not true, for it is contrary to all our experience If the answer is yes in both cases, then there follows the question of whether the answer implies merely that one poem it better than another for the speaker, or whether it means that one poem is intrinsically better than another. If the former, then we are impressionists, which is to say relativists; and are either mystics of the type of Emerson, or hedonists of the type of Wallace Stevens and [John Crowe] Ransom. If  the latter, then we assume that constant principles govern the poetic experience, and that the poem (as likewise the judge) must be judged in relationship to those principles. It is important, therefore, to discover the consequences of assuming each of these positionsIf our answer to the first question is no and to the second yes, then we are asseting that we can distinguish between those poem which are of the canon and those which are not, but the within the canon all judgment is impossible. This view, if adopted, will require serious slucidation, for on the face of it, it appears inexplicable. on the other hand, one cannot deny that within the canon judgment will become more difficult, for the nearer tow poems may be to the highest degrees of excellence, the hardet it will be to choose between them. Two poems, in fact, might be so excellent that there would be small profit in endeavouring to say that one was better, but one could arrive at this conclusion only after a careful examination of both