PERHAPS Carole Rumens should have added a footnote to her poem 'Stealing the Genre' for the benefit of those readers on this side of the water who, like your reviewer, William Scammell ('Same old story', Review, 16 January), were baffled by the title. The genre in question is surely the Aisling, or vision poem, in which the poet (traditionally male) meets the spirit of Ireland embodied in the form of a beautiful woman.
Fleur Adcock, London N2
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