Eyewear's belief in the 2012 London Olympics has been totally vindicated, not least by Jonathan Freedland and Blake Morrison, both writing lyrically in today's Guardian. One of the greatest games ever held - and surely the fairest, with no teams boycotting and women represented as never before - it has showcased a bold, lively, upbeat, good Britain - filled with enthusiastic, celebratory people able to enjoy the successes of themselves and others. The nay-sayers are wrong about the Olympics, and always were - its ideals are real, as are its golden gifts. The Games inspire and reveal the best of ourselves - as competitors, as hosts and as audience. I am proud to live in London, and to be on track to get British citizenship. I have lived in London for 9 years now, and am happy to be here. British people, too often sold short by their media and their bankers and their politicians - have risen to the occasion, and vaulted over the establishment to make this a People's Games. The best of Britain is in its creativity, energy, sense of humour and fair play - and yes, its patriotism, its emotionality. Forget the stiff upper lip nonsense. The British laugh and cry with the best of them - we've seen it on the podiums. The British are human, wonderfully so, and, for the most part, wonderful. This Games has been one of the greatest moments of my life - for I have seen my new home come alive, as it does on hot sunny days, and also on days when snow falls enough to make snowmen. Long may we remember how good we can be, how joyous, how proud, how modest, how welcoming. How golden, and yes, sylvan, and bronzed.
When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....
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