11-23-2016, 01:44 PM
Personally, I hate notes in poems. Poems aren't lessons -- and we do have Mr Google at our fingertips.
A poem should stand alone and at least in one layer speak to the reader without the need for a back-story or bibliography. If it has nothing that the reader can grab hold of without notes, then it is not successful -- at least for that reader. It is always possible that someone with a very alien set of experiences will not respond to a poem that another reader might appreciate fully on a number of levels.
Where do we stop with notes? Personally I don't have any frame of reference for drug taking or one night stands, but there are a lot of poems that seem to want me to read about those things -- would I be more inclined to do so if each metaphor were explained?
Unlikely.
A poem should stand alone and at least in one layer speak to the reader without the need for a back-story or bibliography. If it has nothing that the reader can grab hold of without notes, then it is not successful -- at least for that reader. It is always possible that someone with a very alien set of experiences will not respond to a poem that another reader might appreciate fully on a number of levels.
Where do we stop with notes? Personally I don't have any frame of reference for drug taking or one night stands, but there are a lot of poems that seem to want me to read about those things -- would I be more inclined to do so if each metaphor were explained?
Unlikely.
It could be worse