Poetry for the Examinee

Extract

As far as I can remember, although I read Virgil as a school-boy, scanned Virgil, translated Virgil, and learned Virgil by heart, yet no one ever tried to explain to me why I should study Virgil, except, of course, as a means to securing a School or Higher Certificate. Vaguely I was aware that Virgil was said to be a great poet, and I knew that Tennyson had written a celebrated poem about him. But nobody tried to make me feel that he was a great poet, nobody tried to open my eyes. Nor is this surprising, because no one tried to make me feel that Lycidas was a great poem either, although I learned most of it by heart. Certain things in Lycidas, I know, did move me, particularly the passage about St. Peter, the blind mouths, But that two-handed engine at the door Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.