Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site charm.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!mhuxj!mhuxi!charm!eokane
From: eokane@charm.UUCP (Evan Kane)
Newsgroups: net.poems,net.politics,net.women
Subject: How to fight Communism
Message-ID: <346@charm.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-May-84 22:37:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: charm.346
Posted: Thu May 10 22:37:28 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 12-May-84 12:45:59 EDT
Organization: Physics Research - AT&T Bell Labs MH
Lines: 18


   Poetry deals in metaphor and symbolism and is thereby
less precise than prose in the hands of a logician or a lawyer
or even a scientist like myself. I prefer to write poetry
because it is more directly assimilated by the emotions and
therefore has more impact.
   There is always the risk (if you think you have a message)
that your symbols may not mean the same to other people as
they mean to you.From John Hobson's remarks I regretfully
learn that this is the case with Emma Lazarus' poem
inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.
   To me the words suggest compassion. I interpret the
phrases "huddled masses" and "wretched refuse" to refer
to the economic condition of the refugees and their
treatment in their native land. To me, the extended
welcome symbolizes a recognition of their intrinsic
worth as human beings and is not condescension.
     Evan Kane 5/10/84