inversions in poetry

[abu nuwas]

You got me fair banged to rights, Guv'nor!

i know by answering you i'm pouring oil on the fire, i also realise you probably know a lot more than i, but i'll answer anyway because i damn well like you sir.

Billy, old bean, I love haute cuisine, and fish and chips, and every type of cooking in between. I object to baristas who think that I ought not to have milk, let alone sugar, because of all the trouble they have gone to, but otherwise - I'm a grub man. God forbid that I ever learn not to enjoy this or that.

As to this inversion thing, you must ask yourself this:

1 Does it grate when you read Romantic poets using this? Can't you stand Keats and co?

not in the slightest, i enjoy most of of the poetry from said period and the poets who write period pieces.

2 If you find it acceptable in old poets, then do you need to know the author, or date, to allow you to judge whether it jars or not?

not in the slightest, i read the poem as a period piece, it's a bit like seeing someone at a rave in 15th century costume, i think "what a silly bastard" were it however being worn to a fancy dress, leanardo convention or a black adder admiration party i'd say "you really look the part"

3 If you need info about the author, then do you accept that you no longer just look at the text and get from it what you will?

this question makes it seem you already answered the previous question for me by proxy doesn't it. how cruel ... i don't need info about an author unless i'm interested in their poetry, if i don't like a poem, i don't check out the author

Turn back, Billy, turn back! This edgy stuff will take you to places undreamt of -- like our poor A-level students who are to study texting, and the lyrics of one Dizzee Rascal! You see? Leave the well-trod straight and narrow, and you are in a wilderness.

at this point i'll quote one of calebs friends;

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair, ...

i do hate texting but it does in it's absurdity (my POV) seem to be becoming a part of the language, as such i'm sure i could'nt dismiss it out of hand should i see it in a poem. i really do try not to dismiss anything in a poem out of hand but openly admit to being fairly uneducated and often uncrafted where poetry is concerned. i have often been usurped by better critics after i have left a comment and realised they were correct and i was not.
i have never proclaimed myself as a great critic or poet and always try to be humble about both, but and this is a big but, i will voice my opinion (as my opinion) i do not like inversion, i used to but not any more. there will be exceptions when i think inversions work but these i'm sure will be rare. in general we are a site of poets who have yet to learn almost any aspect of their craft, this includes me. i'm at the stage where i know a little but not enough. i'm capable of realising this fact, some cannot. some have to be right at the expense of poetry. that's their choice, i will however always do my best to be honest and sincere in my opinion. this is a lot different than defending the indefensible. i respect your claim of liking inversion, not sure i believe you but i do respect it, but have to differ for the reasons i gave.

i really believe that poetry is a craft. we learn the craft, we add to the craft, it is ever evolving and one day inversion may be admired (not by me) by more than a few. i dare say in ten years time all poetry will be textspeak. but the point is this, we need to learn where the breaks are before we start driving a sports car

You got me fair banged to rights Guv'nor!