12-11-2011, 08:09 PM
this question is in every poetry forum, and it's just as valid in each of them.
how to define poetry. or what is poetry, or how should it 'be'
i think in the main, it's a personal thing to what ever poet is poeting. a little bit like art.
for me it all centres around the poetry form. the grammar and the poetic devices.
poetry is about knowing as much of them as you can and then utilising them with changes, omissions, additions etc.
i just read one of granny's poems in novice with no grammar and it worked. i know she knows grammar i've seen her use it.
the way the poem was written is obvious that she wrote it that way through choice. because of this and her knowledge of a poetic device called enjambment it works.
on many forums i see wouldbe poets who say, i just write how i feel and how i want. i don't care about this and that. it isn't needed. i say stfu and stop being silly. their poetry is often self indulgent rubbish. if it's a choice through lack of knowledge, how can we temper or grade its misuse? how can we know how far to go. i think a poets greatest sin is that of pride or ego. the "i wrote it so it doesn't matter what it looks like cos it's great' syndrome most newbies have. poetry fisrt and foremost is a craft. you can have inherent talent but it's still a craft. it's like bricklaying. being able to build a wall, does not make you an architect. it won't mean you can build a flying buttress or an arched window, it won't mean you know where to place a keystone.
being able to put words together with good syntax is not what makes a good poet, often it's the manipulation of syntax that plays an important role, creativity, imagination, passion, logic, chaos and all the emotions and the ability to transfer them into a poem. poetry is nothing and everything. it is creation. it is a smile from god or a scowl from hell. poetry is the end of you nib, quill, stick in the sand, stroke of a paint brush or curve of an original breast. poetry just is.
how to define poetry. or what is poetry, or how should it 'be'
i think in the main, it's a personal thing to what ever poet is poeting. a little bit like art.
for me it all centres around the poetry form. the grammar and the poetic devices.
poetry is about knowing as much of them as you can and then utilising them with changes, omissions, additions etc.
i just read one of granny's poems in novice with no grammar and it worked. i know she knows grammar i've seen her use it.
the way the poem was written is obvious that she wrote it that way through choice. because of this and her knowledge of a poetic device called enjambment it works.
on many forums i see wouldbe poets who say, i just write how i feel and how i want. i don't care about this and that. it isn't needed. i say stfu and stop being silly. their poetry is often self indulgent rubbish. if it's a choice through lack of knowledge, how can we temper or grade its misuse? how can we know how far to go. i think a poets greatest sin is that of pride or ego. the "i wrote it so it doesn't matter what it looks like cos it's great' syndrome most newbies have. poetry fisrt and foremost is a craft. you can have inherent talent but it's still a craft. it's like bricklaying. being able to build a wall, does not make you an architect. it won't mean you can build a flying buttress or an arched window, it won't mean you know where to place a keystone.
being able to put words together with good syntax is not what makes a good poet, often it's the manipulation of syntax that plays an important role, creativity, imagination, passion, logic, chaos and all the emotions and the ability to transfer them into a poem. poetry is nothing and everything. it is creation. it is a smile from god or a scowl from hell. poetry is the end of you nib, quill, stick in the sand, stroke of a paint brush or curve of an original breast. poetry just is.