Three of the grand mysteries: What makes a poem? What makes a stanza? What makes a poetic line?
James Longenbach opens his most recent book on the craft of writing with this quote from George Oppen: “The meaning of a poem is in the cadences and the shape of the lines and the pulse of the thought which is given by those lines.” For the next 120-odd pages Longenbach details his opinions on The Art of the Poetic Line.
The first two sentences of the book read thus: “Poetry is the sound of language organized in lines. More than meter, more than rhyme, more than images or alliteration or figurative language, line is what distinguishes our experience of poetry as poetry, rather than some other kind of writing.” He goes on to say (though I am still quoting only the preface): “The line’s function is sonic, a way of organizing the sound of language, and only by listening to the effect of a particular line in the context of a particular poem can we come to understand how lines work.”
Read the entire post here:
http://poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/03/the_line_here_1.html
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1 comments:
I wonder what Mr Longenbach would say about a Poet who cannot listen to the Poems she writes, because her auditory nerves are severed.But I completely agree with this chap about there being more to a Poem than meter, rhyme etc.
Poetry comes from the heart, deep within ones Soul and a Poet is born not made!
I will get off my 'soap box' now!
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