Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.quux.org!news.nk.ca!rocksolid2!i2pn2.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: will.dockery@gmail.com (W.Dockery)
Newsgroups: alt.arts.poetry.comments,rec.arts.poems
Subject: Re: My Father's House / gjd (for new comments)
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:33 +0000
Organization: novaBBS
Message-ID: <6dbe3e738b604694022d5656d7f7392a@www.novabbs.com>
References: <97db0c3aeb33a7b97dc54cdfd5661e52@www.novabbs.com> <cf0dfaecdb740e5d6fe5b11bb0277d27@www.novabbs.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Info: i2pn2.org;
	logging-data="1389192"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@i2pn2.org";
	posting-account="Vf9CM7g99yqfGvzEHTw0bhrjcIfvzYBBhUuRma0rLuQ";
User-Agent: Rocksolid Light
X-Rslight-Posting-User: acd0b3e3614eaa6f47211734e4cbca3bfd42bebc
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 4.0.0
X-Rslight-Site: $2y$10$592aGQkKyR1kqGZIK3mdLOFPMXez8hB1E7tTlhlp3vrIEVqhsYcIO

On Tue, 11 Feb 2025 18:28:21 +0000, George J. Dance wrote:
>
> As noted, I opened this thread mainly to collect comments on the poem
> that I found scattered in other threads. Here's one I found foay, in a
> thread called "NastyGoon lifts a line".
>
> On Sat, 8 Feb 2025 1:30:57 +0000, Michael Monkey Peabrain aka
> "HarryLime" wrote:
>> Let's search for the opening line of Mr. Dance's most well known poem:
>> "This is my father's house, although The man died thirteen years ago."
>> The search returned a whopping 10 pages of results.
> snip
>
> It sounds like HarryLiar forgot to put quotes around the line; but
> that's not relevant here. This one is, though:
>
>> Here's another example where the father is the speaker's biological one:
>> it's the title of a song by Bruce Springsteen.  Bruce's relationship
>> with his father in the song appears to be a loving one (and one can even
>> draw a parallel between  the relationship of Little Bruce and his
>> biological to one between Grownup Bruce and God).  Again, a different
>> message, but the Title is *exactly* the same.
>
> It sounds as if HarryLiar has never heard or listened to the song;
> which allows one to evaluate his interpretation of it in context.
> In fact, the speaker (who does appear to be Springsteen) and his father
> have experienced conflict ("hard things that pulled us apart") and
> are estranged (torn "from each other's hearts"). Then one night he
> dreams of his father, and resolves to return to the house to reconcile
> with him and get closure.
>
> <q>
> I awoke and I imagined, the hard things that pulled us apart
> Will never again, sir, tear us from each other's hearts
> I got dressed and to that house, I did ride
> </q>
>
> However, it is too late; the father "doesn't live [t]here anymore"
> (presumably he's dead), and no reconciliation is possible.
> The speaker's and his father's "sins lie unatoned".
> https://genius.com/Bruce-springsteen-my-fathers-house-lyrics
>
>>
>> Of course I would never so much as intimate that George Dance lifted the
>> title of his poem from Mr. Springsteen. I would not even imply this
>> when I think it highly probable that Mr. Dance has some familiarity with
>> Mr. Springsteen's song.  Since most titles are intended to call
>> attention to a poem's topic, there are many poems and songs that have
>> the same titles.
>
> Indeed I 'm familiar with the song; it's actually a favorite of mine.
> And I'm happy to acknowledge the similarities between his work
> and mine -- both are about a speaker unable to get closure with his
> father, because his father is gone -- though the details of the two
> works are completely different. And although I did not consciously
> think of the song when I wrote the poem, when I did realize the
> titles matched I thought it worked very well as an allusion.
>
> So I don't mind HarryLiar saying that I "lifted" the title from
> Springsttenm, provided that he not does to on to claim, a la
> NastyGoon, that I "plagiarized" it.

An homage to Springsteen, as I used to see mentioned often in the films
of Jean Luc Godard, leader of the French New Wave, an all-time favorite
filmmaker.