Brian Arkins – Interrogating Terms Such as ‘Classical, Tradition and Decorum’

Interrogating Terms Such as ” Classical, Tradition and Decorum”

The adjective ‘Classical’ now means so many things as to be useless for serious discourse. The term ‘Tradition’ – what is handed down – is the wrong kind of metaphor to apply to how a writer uses material from the past. It suggests a passive process, but the process is, rather, active. As Eliot said, “mature poets steal”.The concept of ‘Decorum’ – as supposedly found in Milton and in Virgil – cannot be mandatory. The plays of Shakespeare do not do ‘Decorum’.