Bernstein 58: "Basil Bunting's Briggflats is probably / the English-language poem of this century / to most richly realize the musical depths / of an opaque, but not invented, lexicon"
Bunting says "poetry's power is unrelated / to any utilitarian idea of the meaning or ideas / a poem conveys; rather the emotion is / aroused by the sound of the words"
(Bernstein's summary of Bunting's point in "The Use of Poetry," Writing 12 (1985))
59: "we can imagine / a small community of readers for whom this / lexicon might be familiar, yet Bunting's / primary audience has always been / readers for whom his vocabulary is opaque / & this is inextricable from the poem's power & / particular music"