Australian poet Erica Jolly has alerted me to Lapham's Quarterly -- a magazine, both print and digital, that offers the view that history is the root of all education. In particular, Jolly directed me to Lapham's presentation of "Sense and Nonsense: Babies cannot manage crocodiles" by Lewis Carroll. One of the Lewis Carroll logic puzzles presented therein relates to poetry -- and so I offer it here:
1. No interesting poems are unpopular among people of real taste;
2. No modern poetry is free from affectation;
3. All your poems are on the subject of soap bubbles;
4. No affected poetry is popular among people of real taste;
5. No ancient poem is on the subject of soap bubbles.
Answer: All your poems are uninteresting.
That the Answer/Conclusion follows using the rules of logic requires some calculations which the interested reader is invited to pursue. A solution (and additional puzzles) may be found here.
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