03-24-2007, 02:56 AM | #1 |
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Poetic Justice
Regardless of what the so-called experts refer to as art or poetry, one cannot really have a strict definition of neither.
Poetry is a skill. Not everyone can be a poet; this is why I admire people who are capable of tailoring sonnets, epic poetry, and such. However, not all 'sub-divisions' of poetry are at the same level. In fact, some are a lot easier to do than others. As I mentioned before, poetry is a skill that only few can perform, thus giving everyone the chance to be masters of a skill makes the skill lose its specialness. For this case, I will set my eyes on Free Verse. Free verse (also at times referred to as vers libre) is a term describing various styles of poetry that are not written using strict meter or rhyme, but that still are recognizable as 'poetry' by virtue of complex patterns of one sort or another that readers will perceive to be part of a coherent whole. You see, Free Verse can have any shape or form. Any meter, any rhyme scheme, or no scheme at all. There is no pattern to it. It is quite obvious that one of the greatest difficulties that apply when tailoring poetry is finding the right words to express your thoughts in a certain pattern. Simply put, it's patterned expression. Stripping poetry of its pattern is stripping poetry from its genuineness. Anyone can do Free Verse. Anyone can say anything they've written has meaning; the fact of the matter is, most of what we write doesn't always have a meaning. But for argument's sake, lets suppose it does. You write something in some random pattern, and poof! instant poetry. I don't think so. One cannot, and should not, compare Free Verse to Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Milton, Dante, Pope, etc. If anyone can do it, it's not really worth it. When poetry is stripped of its form, then it becomes easy. This isn't fair for those skilled in this art. I prompt you to prove to me that Free Verse is actually worthy of being classified as poetry. |
03-24-2007, 04:03 AM | #2 |
Hookers and Blow
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Re: Poetic Justice
Free Verse is poetry because it is the written form of a range of emotions in a lyrical sense. It is the expression of the person's depth and soul. Obviously, it's easy to tell when something was just barfed onto the page and when something was actually thought out.
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03-24-2007, 11:56 AM | #3 | ||
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Re: Poetic Justice
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03-24-2007, 12:52 PM | #4 |
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Re: Poetic Justice
I guess this questions more the definition of "poetry" itself than the validity of Free Verse. Poetry can be written for any number of reasons, but I like to think that generally it is written by someone for themselves. In this, Free Verse is exactly as valid as any other sort of poetry, because it's created in such a way as you think it can best be interpreted when you next look at it. I believe poetry written with the intent of publication or distribution isn't poetry at all. Whenever I write a poem, which doesn't happen often I'll admit, it has a rather deep personal meaning to it. When looking at anything I've written, I will get more out of it personally than anyone else. This applies to if I wrote something in Free Verse, or if I wrote a brilliantly patterned sonnet. The most important element is what I can gain from it when I look back. If the writer can extract meaning from his or her works, then it really doesn't matter if it's structured or not, it's poetry.
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03-24-2007, 01:27 PM | #5 |
Hookers and Blow
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Re: Poetic Justice
Not neccesarily. Just because a poem seems to have no rhyming structure or coherent reason that can be determined by the average person, does not mean that it is not poetry nonetheless.
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03-24-2007, 03:24 PM | #6 | |||
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Re: Poetic Justice
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03-24-2007, 03:26 PM | #7 |
Hookers and Blow
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Re: Poetic Justice
That's a dictionary website's opinion. Who is to say what is poetry and what isn't poetry? Certainly not you or I.
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03-24-2007, 03:43 PM | #8 | |
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Re: Poetic Justice
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The point of this being, poetry isn't some all powerful amazing art that it's made out to be. Hell, art isn't some all powerful amazing thing it's made out to be. Who are we to define it? Its creators, its benefactors, its beneficiaries and its patrons. Q |
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03-24-2007, 05:19 PM | #9 |
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Re: Poetic Justice
Roses are red, violets are blue... blah blah blah blah. Zee interwebz... shez essploded from my "poem".
Last edited by sylvia_black; 05-3-2007 at 10:04 PM.. |
03-24-2007, 05:42 PM | #10 | |
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Re: Poetic Justice
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03-24-2007, 05:44 PM | #11 | |
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Re: Poetic Justice
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Honestly, if you want good thought, you should be doing math. Q |
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03-24-2007, 05:45 PM | #12 |
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Re: Poetic Justice
Free verse is prose.
Last edited by Risking; 03-24-2007 at 05:50 PM.. |
03-24-2007, 05:47 PM | #13 |
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Re: Poetic Justice
Using terms like 'the wind' or 'tight boxes' or any other attempt at using figurative language doesn't make your 'work' poetry. I could do the same thing and I'm not a poet. Just because it's meaningful to you it doesn't make something you write poetry. Even if it was meaningful to the whole world it wouldn't necessarily be classified as poetry.
Also, my English teacher in High school is someone who I admire. Last edited by FictionJunction; 03-24-2007 at 06:21 PM.. |
03-24-2007, 05:47 PM | #14 | |
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Re: Poetic Justice
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03-24-2007, 05:53 PM | #15 | |
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Re: Poetic Justice
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03-24-2007, 06:26 PM | #16 |
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Re: Poetic Justice
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03-24-2007, 06:33 PM | #17 | |
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Re: Poetic Justice
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03-24-2007, 06:49 PM | #18 | |||
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Re: Poetic Justice
Not necessarily. Poetry can be well thought out (function), but does not necessarily follow "form" in a strict sense. For example, take E. E. Cumming's "next to of course god america i". When I first saw this poem, it did look "barfed out" to me, but that's because the dialogue is just one long rant. However, this poem is not nonsense:
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This one is called "in Just-" by the same poet. The poem at first seems to have little meaning: Quote:
This one's called "l(a". The poem does have form; you just have to take a closer look! : Quote:
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03-24-2007, 07:03 PM | #19 |
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Re: Poetic Justice
E.E. Cummings wrote a lot in form (sonnetts, blues). The only reason that doesn't seem like it's in form is because he wrote so that the shape of the words conveyed just as much of a message as the words themselves (see: House of Leaves).
Nevertheless, form refers to meter, not to rhyme or sensibility of the words themselves (which is equally important, in my opinion, but not in poetry's). Q |
03-24-2007, 07:13 PM | #20 | |
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Re: Poetic Justice
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By the way. Just because I'm not good at poetry, doesn't mean that what I wrote it isn't a poem. If I want to call it a poem, I will, and no one else can change my mind on that. Stalemate. |
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