'...throughout the world
Impious War is raging. As on a racecourse,
The barriers are down, out pour the chariots,
Gathering speed from lap to lap, and a driver
Tugging in vain at the reins is swept along
By his horses and heedless uncontrollable car.'

--L P Wilkinson tr Th* G*orgics, end of bk I (1982)


"Poetry, however, is never a lone discourse. For the individual and his or her intimates, what is said in poetry and what is said in ordinary language always exist side by side: their interplay is essential to their meaning. The two juxtaposed discourses can be seen as commenting on each other, just as the secret comments on the the manifest world... Ironically, poetic discourse seems to comment on the ordinary discourse of everyday life in ways that ultimately enhance the meaning of the latter and the honor of the person reciting. One might, then, consider poetry and the expression of feeling it represents as integral to honor."  --Lila Abu-Lughod, V*il*d S*ntim*nts: Honor and Po*try in a B*douin Soci*ty (1986)