At long last I am posting my final paper for ENGL 210. It has been a wild ride.
What Is Poetry?
Such a historic and diverse art as poetry often shuns definition. With so many subjects addressed and styles used over time, it is imprudent to attempt to constrain the meaning of poetry with broad and overarching rules of what it must be. As illustrated by the numerous poetic revolutions over time, poetry is an art that continually changes. To answer the question “What is poetry?” is to both decide what qualities a work must have to be considered a poem, and what the purpose of poetry is. I recognize something as a poem when it has a style that is deliberately visually different than a prose piece. The parts of a poem that are most important to me are how it is unique to the poet and how it is meant to influence the reader. Poetry is an artistic rhythmic organization of language designed to express the poet’s emotion and influence the reader. I classify a work as poetry by its form and style.
For me to acknowledge a work as poetry, the language must be organized in a form distinct from a prose piece. Writing in a form distinct from prose indicates the author’s intent for the work to be viewed as something other than a typical essay. Along with being spaced in an organized form, language in poetry must make use of rhythm and other artistic devices such as metaphor or metonymy. While obvious use of rhythm and imagery in essays may be distracting from the purpose of the paper, rhythm and artistic language are the foundation of poetry influence on the reader. The form and style of a poem are the tools that enable unique expression and emotion. Combining an organized form with artistic rhythmic language is what I see as the criteria for a poem. Until recently, poems have been rather easy to visually distinguish from prose pieces. Some postmodern begins to make visual identification more difficult, but I am not as concerned with the labeling a poem as I am analyzing it’s content. In her introduction to The Best American Poetry 2004, Lyn Hejinian hesitates to attempt to define requirements for poetry, “What is, or isn't, a poem? What makes something poetic? These questions remain open. And the fact that there are no final answers is one source of the vitality of the art form (The Best American Poetry 9).” While I agree that the criteria for what exactly makes a poem can be subject to change, I don’t think this ambiguity is what is a source of vitality for the art form. The main source of vitality for poetry is the way it allows poets to express themselves. I consider personal expression one of the key purposes of poetry.
Poetry is an expression of the poet’s inner emotions and feelings. It is a tool for translating a passion to the world.
In his introduction to The Best American Poetry 2003, Yusef Komunyakaa argues for the importance of expression in poetry. He cites a quote from Miles Davis to reflect on expression and originality, “I believe it was Miles Davis who said ‘The reason I stopped playing ballads is because I love them so much.’” Davis developed an original way of playing Jazz ballads, and when he felt he had become too complacent in his playing, he stopped until he felt he could be more original. Komunyakaa goes on to warn against stifling originality, “Indeed, maybe that’s the problem with some of the exploratory poets, where the text of a poem may seem muddled through over-experimentation (Komunyakaa 17).” Komunyakaa is cautious of the experimentations with form and style that remove the creativity of the poet from the process. Once a work has been labeled a poem, and is given an honest contribution from the poet, it is the function of the poem that matters.
An example of poetry by a postmodern poet that still meets my definition of poetry is the work in Disclamor by G. C. Waldrep. Waldrep strays from traditional notions of form and style, and yet uses the poetry to express himself rather than simply exploring form. Many of the poems have odd spacing of words all over the page, and most use enjambment. What is important about Waldrep’s poetry is that he still seems to use form to aid his expression in the poem – they aren’t merely experiments with form. “Battery Mendell” has the line “I squat, and with the muscles of my calves
suspend my rhythm
--the dirge, the waltz--
over these sea-cliffs,” and is ultimately aided by the formatting (Waldrep, 30). The form is used in tandem with the language to express Waldrep’s unease with the haven for children that the old war stations have become. Waldrep’s poetry purposeful expresses his thoughts and emotions to the reader.
Poetry must have a purpose that connects with the reader. If the poem is merely an experiment that isn’t meant to connect with the reader on an emotional level, then the poem is ineffectual. The poetry anthology Against Forgetting is an excellent collection of poems that have obvious intents and purposes. These poems all bear witness to tragic events. The poets exemplify how poetry is an artistic tool for expressing their emotions to others. While Against Forgetting is a very clear case of poetry acting with a purpose, all poetry should serve as witness in some way. It is impossible to read a line such as “O you chimneys / O you fingers / And Israel’s body as smoke through the air!” from O the Chimneys and not be aware of the poem’s lament over the Holocaust (Forché 361). The poet doesn’t even need to directly condemn the atrocity; the poem’s expression of emotion works to stand against the Holocaust. Poetry must relate to the reader and influence them in some way.
Poetry is a fluidly changing medium of art. As a tool with many designs, poetry advances individual expression. I have lenient criteria for what makes up a poem, but what is truly important is the content and message of the work. The style and form of a poem allows the poem to be a more efficient tool. Techniques of rhythm and artistic language help convey the poet’s emotion to the reader. Poetry is an artistic rhythmic organization of language designed to express the poet’s emotion and influence the reader.
Works Cited
Forché, Carolyn. Against Forgetting: Twentieth-century Poetry of Witness. New York:
W.W. Norton, 1993. Print.
Hejinian, Lyn. Introduction. Lyn Hejinian and David Lehman, eds. The Best American
Poetry 2004. Scribner, 2004. 9-14. Print.
Komunyakaa, Yusef. Introduction. Yusef Komunyakaa and David Lehman, eds. The Best
American Poetry 2003. New York: Scribner, 2003. 11-21. Print.
Waldrep, George Calvin. Disclamor: Poems. Rochester, NY: BOA Editions, 2007. Print.
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