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Kunsusuki Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Is it correct?

Hi. Is the dropping of the present simple 's' in the underlined verb intentional?

'I believe that the proper and perfect symbol is the natural object, that if a man use 'symbols' he must so use them that their symbolic function does not obtrude; so that a sense, and a poetic quality of the passage is not lost to those who do not understand the symbol as such, to whom for instance, a hawk is a hawk.' Ezra Pound- Retrospect

The use of natural objects, as symbols in a poem, should have a unifying ground in the audience's mind. Is that what the quote is about?

  

Top answer

kunsusuki Is the dropping of the present simple 's' in the underlined verb intentional? Yes; it an older use of the subjunctive. ) kunsusuki The use of natural objects, as symbols in a poem, should have a unifying ground in the audience's mind.

— Mister Micawber

  • kunsusuki Is the dropping of the present simple 's' in the underlined verb intentional?
  • Yes; it an older use of the subjunctive.
  • ) kunsusuki The use of natural objects, as symbols in a poem, should have a unifying ground in the audience's mind.
  • Is that what the quote is about?
  • He means that the symbolic object must also function with its real, concrete meaning in the passage.
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2 Answers
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kunsusukiIs the dropping of the present simple 's' in the underlined verb intentional?

Yes; it an older use of the subjunctive. (Pound wrote this more than 100 years ago.)

kunsusukiThe use of natural objects, as symbols in a poem, should have a unifying ground in the audience's mind. Is that what the quote is about?
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This is an example of the subjunctive mood, used with a few hypothetical statements.

In modern English there are one or two remnants of the subjunctive mood, for example 'If I were to...' or 'I recommend he go...'

However, in the olden days the subjunctive was seen as a reasonably useful tool and was understood by many of the people whose writing remains to this day, therefore we s

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