09-23-2011, 09:41 AM
Poets are funny creatures. Some get very worried about using the advice given to them by others, in case it could be seen as stealing someone else's words, or making the poem no longer their own. I think we probably all start out like that, very certain that our poetic integrity depends on using only our own original thoughts and composition, but think about that for a minute: which part of a poem is our own, originally?
The words certainly aren't. They've come to us from countless generations, always being modified, added to, altered in meaning, a set of tools undergoing constant repair and adjustment. The semiotics are culturally agreed upon, though with subtle shifts from person to person (sometimes even mood to mood). The structure of the language isn't ours -- even when we subvert it or break the rules, we can only do so successfully because those rules exist and are understood by our audience. Rhyme, meter, assonance, alliteration -- all techniques passed down through the centuries.
Say you're a painter, who studied extensively at university, maybe even apprenticed under some great master -- you know what you're doing and you do it well, but if you do it in a vacuum that's all you will ever know or do about your art. Do you suppose that an accomplished painter, offered a new way to create texture or show light, would reject the technique because it wasn't his/her own invention? Would he/she disdain a new brush because it came from another's hand?
The hand that paints the poem is always the poet's. All a workshop offers is ideas, new perspectives, alternative techniques, different experiences, a body of knowledge that is freely shared -- yes, that's all. Nothing useful. Nothing that you need at all, if all you want to do is showcase your poetry -- you only need Facebook for that.
The words certainly aren't. They've come to us from countless generations, always being modified, added to, altered in meaning, a set of tools undergoing constant repair and adjustment. The semiotics are culturally agreed upon, though with subtle shifts from person to person (sometimes even mood to mood). The structure of the language isn't ours -- even when we subvert it or break the rules, we can only do so successfully because those rules exist and are understood by our audience. Rhyme, meter, assonance, alliteration -- all techniques passed down through the centuries.
Say you're a painter, who studied extensively at university, maybe even apprenticed under some great master -- you know what you're doing and you do it well, but if you do it in a vacuum that's all you will ever know or do about your art. Do you suppose that an accomplished painter, offered a new way to create texture or show light, would reject the technique because it wasn't his/her own invention? Would he/she disdain a new brush because it came from another's hand?
The hand that paints the poem is always the poet's. All a workshop offers is ideas, new perspectives, alternative techniques, different experiences, a body of knowledge that is freely shared -- yes, that's all. Nothing useful. Nothing that you need at all, if all you want to do is showcase your poetry -- you only need Facebook for that.
It could be worse