“I think Miss Moore was right to cut “The Steeple-Jack” — the poem seems plainer and clearer in its shortened state — but she has cut too much… The reader may feel like saying, “Let her do as she pleases with the poem; it’s hers, isn’t it?” No; it’s much too good a poem for that, it long ago became everybody’s, and we can protest just as we could if Donatello cut off David’s left leg.”

—  Randall Jarrell

“Her Shield”, p. 177
Poetry and the Age (1953)

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Randall Jarrell 215
poet, critic, novelist, essayist 1914–1965

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