Poetry is the world in concentrate.
(Have you ever seen those cans of frozen orange juice that say "Orange juice in concentrate"? That's what I mean by the phrasing -I know it may seem a little odd.)
*Returning to thought* Others have said poetry takes the form of heightened language, or is distilled ideas, which are good ways of thinking about it, but I think the best way is the world in concentrate-"flavor" packed together so solidly it can only be "eaten" in little bits at a time... (yes, I eat frozen concentrate when I get a chance-which is not very often-it's good! :-))
So why am I thinking about poetry? I'm looking through my schoolwork from last year while choosing what of it I want to save, and I did some work with poetry in literature. If anyone is interested, I can give you a couple of my favorite poems to read. Until (potentially) then, here is one I've already posted, and here is another I think is funny and just a little ironic :-):
Second Fig
Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand
Come see my shining palace built upon the sand!
8 comments:
Hmmm, I kinda like that phrasing. Quite fitting, actually. (of course, sometimes it depends on the depth of the author's writing and other such, but for the most part, poetry is a person's condensed worldview-or way they see things-thus concentrating many thoughts into a short span.)
It has been some time since I last had frozen concentrate(like ten years...), but I understand what you mean. :)
I would be interested(like always :) ) to read some of your favorite poetry!
Was "Second Fig" the name of the poem? I do love the dramatic and verbal irony built into the poem, though. :)
Who wrote it?
I assume the above was from Josiah? For shame-- forgetting to sign off again! :-)
Wow, you actually take time to think about these things.
I never thought about it that way, it's interesting. I agree. I never understood what they meant by "heightened language." I always thought it meant you read poetry differently that other pieces of literature. Oh well, thanks for your insight on poetry. :D I always enjoyed Shakespeare's Sonnets in English Lit class.
Ah, oops! Sorry, I will learn sometime.... :)
Yep, that was me. :)
--Josiah C.
Second Fig is by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
So here is another random thought, plus my idea of an etymology:
If poetry is the world in concentrate, then why did poetry originate in a rhyme and meter form?
My theory is that because as the more common form of instruction in less developed ancient civilizations was oral, they needed a way to remember the information. The human mind keeps information better if the information rhymes, and even better than that if it goes according to rhythm, meter, or song. So to teach the next generation of scholars their schooling in a easily memorable way, they came up with poetry. Thus, poetry becomes the world in concentrate, as it is how new scholars learned what they needed to know. Eventually, it became less of a scholastic form, and developed into an art/recreational form, as paper and other writing tools made academic learning more easily kept for long periods.
Well, that is a theory. :)
Another random thought: where did free verse come from, when, and why? :)
--Josiah C.
(To Josiah:)
Could be... I can definitely answer about free verse, though. Free verse came along during the modernist period, during which most sought to get rid of all old content and forms and be *new!* Hence, "we're going to do poetry differently than it has ever been done!" -and my personal opinion is that it has degenerated, for the most part. Rhyme is fine, but I love meter... however, I also have read some free verse that is quite well done... it is just so much easier to write bad poetry in free verse, since you aren't required to spend the kind of time on it that you are with metrical poetry. I've certainly read bad metrical poetry though, too :-).
Ah, is that so. :)
I agree with you entirely(on what you said about free verse/metric poetry). Of course, I have some issues separating well done free verse from good prose...:)
I think it would be nice, though--sometime, to make something entirely different out of something old; to create a new thing--novel, intricate, captivating; and someday look back and say that it was done well...hmmm....
Ah, well. :)
--Josiah C.
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