Matt and Jerry mount a concerted defence of the merits of Pale Fire the poem. As much of what has been said, both for and against its quality, boils down to matters of subjective taste and personal reaction, the discussion threatens to descend to the nursery level of: Yes, it is! No, it isn’t! --- which one hopes to avoid. Still, having entered the lists, there is some obligation to pursue the joust. I hope I don't seem too blunt and direct.


My discovey of a lost final couplet may end the debate (as if):

“And thus the Papal Pig lies in the Poke;
“Will Litter Critters ever see the joke?”

Stan Kelly-Bootle

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