Talk:Had I but known
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HIBK is mostly about Golden Age mysteries
[edit]I've removed the reference to Lovecraft, since I'm reasonably familiar with his work and wouldn't exactly call him a primary example of this form of construction. I've only ever heard the HIBK tag applied to female Golden Age mystery writers and the Nash poem seems to bear that out. Does anyone have this Nash poem available such that they could fill in the last two lines -- which, by my poor memory, are approximately "Does anyone wish to buy a mystery which I am sorry to say I did not rent, but owns? I wouldn't have bought it had I but known it was full of had I but knowns." I think that would be an appropriate way of ending off this article. Accounting4Taste 23:37, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
Narrative mode
[edit]The article states specifically that the device relies on the first-person narrator. Yet, the same effect can be achieved with the a third-person narrator: "Had he but known ... he would not have set foot in that house". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 37.208.130.181 (talk) 05:38, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
Clarification Needed
[edit]Can someone clarify the opening paragraph? It doesn't make sense to me. It says that an HIBK narrator laments a course of action, as a form of foreshadowing (which would be before the consequences unfold). But then it says that the narrator does not explain the mistake until after the consequences are realized. How can it be both before and after? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.255.220.117 (talk) 16:25, 27 January 2021 (UTC)