Alan Williamson – The Stutter of the Idiom (July 2023)

Many poets succeed best in conveying a special perception of things, and giving their styles a unique torque, when they slightly violate the expectations of idiomatic English.  Or, in a related strategy, they take a familiar expression and slightly twist, even invert, its meaning.  Williamson offers examples of each approach from Berryman, Hughes, Plath, Celan, Frost, and others.