Bernstein 10-11: "consideration / of the formal dynamics of a poem does not necessarily / disregard its content; indeed it is an obvious / starting point insofar as it can initiate a / multilevel reading. But to complete the process / such formal apprehensions need to move to a / synthesis beyond technical cataloging, toward the / experiential phenomenon that is made by virtue of / the work's techniques."
(emphasis added)
put another way (16): "the poem said in any / other way is not the poem. This may account for why writers revealing their intentions or / references ('close readings'), just like readers / inventorying devices, often say so little"
"In contrast, why not / a criticism intoxicated with its own metaphoricity, / or tropicality [...] in which the inadequacy of our explanatory paradigms is neither ignored / nor regretted but brought into fruitful play"