Pluralism and the Modern Poet
Summary
Seamus Perry's Pluralism and the Modern Poet analyzes William James's pluralistic universe and its influence on modern poetry, tracing connections to Chesterton, Browning, Eliot, MacNeice, and Auden. It argues that pluralism challenges orderly unity in literature and shows how poets navigate conflicting values through the motif of 'and' and through Empson and Berlin's ideas. The piece situates poetry within a broader philosophical shift toward plurality in Romantic and modernist thought.