[dang]

If the main idea of the poem—a man who follows a strange version of himself through the countryside—doesn't resonate with you, then yeah there probably isn't much of interest there. But I find it haunting and mysterious.

Then there is the melody of the language and the original way he puts words together that sounds modern and old-fashioned at the same time. And how he can write about nature in a way that brings it to life, which is super rare—most nature writing is boring, and the way Thomas does it seems full of feeling, something that was about to fall out of modern poetry. And then it's just perfectly executed, except I wish he hadn't rhymed "mirth" with "earth".

To me that poem suggests a modernism that was possible but in the end never happened. I like Eliot and Pound, but their virtuosity is altogether different and they are far more detached and alienated. Of course we can't say what Thomas would have been like after WWI, which had a shattering effect on all art.

You're certainly right that we needn't all like the same things. Thanks for sharing those links. I admire the Elizabeth Bishop poem for its construction—it's clever how the middle lines all rhyme—but I'm somehow not convinced she means what she's saying. The Billy Collins poem is beautiful, though. Thanks!