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I don't think anyone would ever use loose in that manner without preceding it with "let"? Feel free to correct me, but to me that sounds very wrong.
by ZoFreX 15y ago
I don't think anyone would ever use loose in that manner without preceding it with "let"? Feel free to correct me, but to me that sounds very wrong.
- yid 15y agoIt's correct without "let", but a little archaic. You're unlikely to see that sort of usage outside slightly pretentious plays, but it's correct nonetheless.
- Natsu 15y agoThe mistake of writing "you temper" instead of "your temper" made it hard for me to see either one as correct for a moment.
- defen 15y agoTurning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
- jmilloy 15y agoA good poet knows when and how to defy grammar.
- forensic 15y agoExcept he isn't defying grammar. It's correct to use loose that way.
- jmilloy 15y agoIt's just that being in a poem doesn't have anything to do with being correct or not, whether it is correct in this poem or not.
- defen 15y agoOP said "I don't think anyone would ever use loose in that manner without preceding it with 'let'". I provided a counterexample, so the OP's statement is refuted. Now, granted anyone could write a nonsense sentence to refute any rule of grammar. But this is a very important poem by a prominent poet.
- jmilloy 15y agoI think that my comment came across as an attack. Rather, I just find the ways in which poems can interact with and affect existing, seemingly fixed aspects of language are beautiful and interesting! And in particular, it means that poetry has a unique place in discussions about both proper grammar and common usage. You make a good point that you were furthering discussion about common usage and not necessarily grammar.
- ZoFreX 15y agoI agree with jmilloy, actually; regardless of whether or not that usage is correct, given that poems frequently flout grammar "rules" I don't think using a poem as evidence of a particular rule is a strong argument.