> > On Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 2:00:05 PM UTC-5,
jdcha...@gmail.com wrote:
> > It's odd and puzzling how many people seem to think and believe
that a poem or a song or a story is necessarilly autobiographical!
this is just NOT necessarily so! For example, the song or poem may be
written from the POV of a writer's persona, or one of their many
personas, or they may be written from the POV of invented
characters... the members of Steely Dan, for example, have discussed
how people would believe that they were writing about themeselves,
when they have said they were primarily writing *fiction*, they were
bascially writing satiricle sings told from the point of view of
invented characters... now, this doesn't mean that their may not be
autobiographical elements incliuded in the song or poem, their may
indeed be thoughts and feeling or events included that are at least
similiar to the ones experianced by the character(s) in the song or
poem, but this does not necessarily mean that the poem is by any means
strictly autobiographical...
> >
> >

Anyone who writes knows that most writing is not autobiographical.

However, when the poet says that his poem was "largely based on
personal experience," one can assume that it's mostly
autobiographical. Which covers George Dance (who, as you should be
aware, is currently debating whether his poem that was "largely
based on personal experience" is therefore "largely
autobiographical"), and who seems to have been the inspiration
for this post.

"Michael Pendragon" is being dishonest: I did not say that
my poem ("My Father's House") was "largely based on
personal experience" or that it was a "poem that was
'largely based on personal experience'". Michael has simply, once
again, truncated a quotation to pretend I'd said something I didn't.

The poem is about a man returning to his childhood home, long after
his father has died; walking through the house; and in each room
remembering a different childhood experience, each of which memories
is progressively more brutal; and, finally, expressing a wish to burn
the house down. As I've explained, more than once, all that is
entirely fictional: those events never happened, and the man
experiencing them never existed.

So where did "Michael" get his (truncated) quotation from?
He googled and found it in a discussion thread on the poem, back in
2007. Vera (poet Lexi McHugh) had asked me: "If your story is
real, George, did this boy have siblings who were treated
differently?" -- to which I replied:

"The boy is a composite; largely based on my own experience, but
with
some details other men have told me about their childhoods."

But of course there is no boy in the poem. All that is in the poem is
the fictional narrator, the house, and his memories (the last two of
which are really the same).

George J. Dance wrote:

> > > On Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 2:00:05 PM UTC-5,
> jdcha...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > > It's odd and puzzling how many people seem to think and believe
> that a poem or a song or a story is necessarilly autobiographical!
> this is just NOT necessarily so! For example, the song or poem may be
> written from the POV of a writer's persona, or one of their many
> personas, or they may be written from the POV of invented
> characters... the members of Steely Dan, for example, have discussed
> how people would believe that they were writing about themeselves,
> when they have said they were primarily writing *fiction*, they were
> bascially writing satiricle sings told from the point of view of
> invented characters... now, this doesn't mean that their may not be
> autobiographical elements incliuded in the song or poem, their may
> indeed be thoughts and feeling or events included that are at least
> similiar to the ones experianced by the character(s) in the song or
> poem, but this does not necessarily mean that the poem is by any means
> strictly autobiographical...
> > >
> > >

> Anyone who writes knows that most writing is not autobiographical.

> However, when the poet says that his poem was "largely based on
> personal experience," one can assume that it's mostly
> autobiographical. Which covers George Dance (who, as you should be
> aware, is currently debating whether his poem that was "largely
> based on personal experience" is therefore "largely
> autobiographical"), and who seems to have been the inspiration
> for this post.

> "Michael Pendragon" is being dishonest: I did not say that
> my poem ("My Father's House") was "largely based on
> personal experience" or that it was a "poem that was
> 'largely based on personal experience'". Michael has simply, once
> again, truncated a quotation to pretend I'd said something I didn't.

> The poem is about a man returning to his childhood home, long after
> his father has died; walking through the house; and in each room
> remembering a different childhood experience, each of which memories
> is progressively more brutal; and, finally, expressing a wish to burn
> the house down. As I've explained, more than once, all that is
> entirely fictional: those events never happened, and the man
> experiencing them never existed.

> So where did "Michael" get his (truncated) quotation from?
> He googled and found it in a discussion thread on the poem, back in
> 2007. Vera (poet Lexi McHugh) had asked me: "If your story is
> real, George, did this boy have siblings who were treated
> differently?" -- to which I replied:

> "The boy is a composite; largely based on my own experience, but
> with
> some details other men have told me about their childhoods."

> But of course there is no boy in the poem. All that is in the poem is
> the fictional narrator, the house, and his memories (the last two of
> which are really the same).

>
>

I see this one finally showed up on the rest of Usenet.

😃

Will Dockery wrote:

> George J. Dance wrote:

>> > > On Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 2:00:05 PM UTC-5,
>> jdcha...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> > > It's odd and puzzling how many people seem to think and believe
>> that a poem or a song or a story is necessarilly autobiographical!
>> this is just NOT necessarily so! For example, the song or poem may be
>> written from the POV of a writer's persona, or one of their many
>> personas, or they may be written from the POV of invented
>> characters... the members of Steely Dan, for example, have discussed
>> how people would believe that they were writing about themeselves,
>> when they have said they were primarily writing *fiction*, they were
>> bascially writing satiricle sings told from the point of view of
>> invented characters... now, this doesn't mean that their may not be
>> autobiographical elements incliuded in the song or poem, their may
>> indeed be thoughts and feeling or events included that are at least
>> similiar to the ones experianced by the character(s) in the song or
>> poem, but this does not necessarily mean that the poem is by any means
>> strictly autobiographical...
>> > >
>> > >

>> Anyone who writes knows that most writing is not autobiographical.

>> However, when the poet says that his poem was "largely based on
>> personal experience," one can assume that it's mostly
>> autobiographical. Which covers George Dance (who, as you should be
>> aware, is currently debating whether his poem that was "largely
>> based on personal experience" is therefore "largely
>> autobiographical"), and who seems to have been the inspiration
>> for this post.

>> "Michael Pendragon" is being dishonest: I did not say that
>> my poem ("My Father's House") was "largely based on
>> personal experience" or that it was a "poem that was
>> 'largely based on personal experience'". Michael has simply, once
>> again, truncated a quotation to pretend I'd said something I didn't.

>> The poem is about a man returning to his childhood home, long after
>> his father has died; walking through the house; and in each room
>> remembering a different childhood experience, each of which memories
>> is progressively more brutal; and, finally, expressing a wish to burn
>> the house down. As I've explained, more than once, all that is
>> entirely fictional: those events never happened, and the man
>> experiencing them never existed.

>> So where did "Michael" get his (truncated) quotation from?
>> He googled and found it in a discussion thread on the poem, back in
>> 2007. Vera (poet Lexi McHugh) had asked me: "If your story is
>> real, George, did this boy have siblings who were treated
>> differently?" -- to which I replied:

>> "The boy is a composite; largely based on my own experience, but
>> with
>> some details other men have told me about their childhoods."

>> But of course there is no boy in the poem. All that is in the poem is
>> the fictional narrator, the house, and his memories (the last two of
>> which are really the same).

>>
>>

> I see this one finally showed up on the rest of Usenet.

> 😃

Did it...?

Not sure...!