romance to feminism. Feminism is one of the causes of the death of romance, but unless one is prepared to abandon the traditional notion of literary romanticism, it cannot be the sole cause. Norris attributes the death to "the sense of nothingness that breeds great art ("Once I had things to talk about" 33). The latter part of the statement is meant to be ironic. In thesame poem he goes on to describe this unRomantic age: It's a wonderful age in which to be alive: a time of turbulence, of trouble, We don't usually care about the news from anywhere: someone is dying, something is being born. It doesn't really matter in the way it's supposed to; Ironically, in an age of information, meaning disappears in a barrage of details. Our sensibilities are dulled by the excess. We live in an age of settling for something less. If we cannot have ecstasy, we can have fun: If we can't have Romance let's at least have a night out on the town. If we can't find it in us to kiss under the stars, let's at least hold hands as the light turns green; . . . . . . . . . . So these are the 1980's: devoid of practically everything except mischief. ("If we can't have Romance" 27)