3 OCTOBER 1998, Page 36

Venus tout entiere

Sir: In response to the point raised in Frank Johnson's Diary (19 September), I think that the greatness of Racine's line has something to do with the alternation of open vowel sounds — (Ve)nus - (t)ou(t) - (ent)iere - (pr)oie — with the emphatic, even spitting diction of the rest of the line; and perhaps even more that attachee brings to the fringe of the mind `arracher' — to tear like an eagle — so forming a powerful, hardly conscious image of something not at all like the usual idea of love. But such things are never less than mysterious.

Roger Gard

Maiden Newton House, Nr Dorchester, Dorset