Clarity—from the Proverbs of Tharmas Erthona

[Erthona]

In Gulliver's Travels, Swift did not forsake clarity for the satire or the irony in the stories. One should not sacrifice clarity on the alter of any trope for any purpose. There is a big difference between something being made explicit or clear. If a poem is talking about a person walking to the store, there is simply no point to obfuscate this. Obviously if this is a metaphor for something, then that aspect of it does not need to be made explicit, but the action, the setting and the context need to be written clearly or there is no basis for anything else. In the past this was understood. However, in today's world there seems to be this absurd notion going around that says if a poet wants to be thought of as deep, he must obscure what he says so people will not understand it and think it is deep because it is not understandable. Depth is not achieved by playing games with the story anymore than poetry is achieved through affectation, that is to give the writing the visual appearance of what one believes poetry looks like without any legitimate rationale for doing so except to make up for ones inability to write poetry. Not using capitals correctly or at all, nor the use of punctuation, or using it sporadically and incorrectly. Both are part and parcel of the same problem which is the inability to write clearly, either because they don't want to, or they lack the ability.
Here, I will approach it from a different way. Writing is for the sole purpose of communicating, unless one is some kind of egoist and writing in an attempt to impress. Good writing is defined by the best communication. Poetry is defined by the same rules as any other type of writing. Clarity leads to communication. If a person says the do not write to communicate and communicate the best way possible, I can only conclude they are an egoist of the highest order or they are completely inane. Not striving for clarity in writing is like a farmer who having worked from sun up to sunset, bringing his crops to fruition and just before they are ready to pick he spray poison on them making them uneatable.