From The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism:

‘The chief use of the ‘meaning’ of a poem, in the ordinary sense, may be (for here I am speaking of some kinds of poetry and not all) to satisfy one habit of the reader, to keep his mind diverted and quiet, while the poem does its work upon him: much as the imaginary burglar is always provided with a nice bit of meat for the house-dog.’

I suspect you may disagree with my reading of “meaning in the ordinary sense” to be equivalent to “the surface narrative.” The diversion-during-delivery sense of the paragraph, though, and the burglar-housedog analogy supports this interpretation, doesn’t it?

I’ll be using this Eliot aside in my revisions to Unlocking Harry Potter. I think I’ll send it on to Lev Grossman as well, if only to suggest he use it as a weapon against the horde of angry academic villagers the next time they storm his castle for suggesting plot is a good thing.

Harper Lee‘s novel of growing up and learning to do the right, difficult thing was published 50 years ago today. I have to think To Kill a Mockingbird was read and re-read by the three authors discussed here most frequently — Joanne Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, and Suzanne Collins — and I suspect that most of us who discuss their books grew up with Mockingbird and the excellent film version as personal favorites.

If you have any Mockingbird thoughts or memories to share on this anniversary, especially if you see any echoes of it in Harry Potter, Twilight, or The Hunger Games (can you say Mockingjay?), please write them out in the comment box below.

Happy Anniversary, Miss Lee, and many thanks for the great gift of Mockingbird that you gave to all of us.

Read it and weep. [Read more…]