Are we samey?

[abu nuwas]

Is there a danger that we -not me, not you, nor you--but we, are becoming samey? Could it be that some people, good critics and writers, will become so influential, that the others follow in base imitation after their proud footsteps? That although each thing may be different-- how could it not?-- in reality, it reflects a set of informal agreements about what is proper, and what is not. Is this in fact a good thing, showing that we have learnt from each other? Or is it stifling creativity, and the very death of originality?

I think I could once have given examples, but am now such a ghost of that earlier self, as I move among the other poetic Shades, that I would be hard put to it; and I would be wanting to hear the views of others, before formulating anything concrete.