Post by Admin on Nov 15, 2013 19:08:21 GMT
BING gives the following definitions for Poetry:
Those aren't exactly the most helpful definitions existent. Suppose we try to refine the concept by defining "Verse":
Poetry defined in relation to Verse, which is in itself defined in relation to Poetry, seems to present a circular argument with no clear definition. This is nothing new; such has been the case consistently as critics and scholars have attempted to codify poetry since its earliest inception. So many attempts at "nailing down" what poetry "is," to no avail.
Admittedly, poetry (or verse) does not easily lend itself to a simple definition. Yet poetry has been with mankind since soon after we learned to speak, and before we learned to write. While modern poetry need not necessarily contain rhyme or meter, the poetry of antquity employed rhyme and meter as a way to help remember our oral histories, and to pass them on to the next generation. To our progenitors, poetry wasn't an art form, or mere expression. It was a legacy, a tool for survival, and, moreover, a necessity.
Humanity's earliest known written works were representations of these oral histories, and thus also the first written examples of "poetry"; The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Homer's Illiad and Odyssey stand out as prime examples of early written epic poetry.
Even now when we try to define poetry, our definitions are all left wanting. Yet try we shall.
Perhaps one of the most important things to remember is that context has always been an integral part of what makes poetry work. Context not only within each poem itself, but context of time (when it's written, when it's read), context of place, and context of experience (both the author's and the reader's). Poetry inevitably tries to communicate something, be it a story, an emotion, a concept . . . what exactly it communicates may differ by writer--or even by audience--but it invariably tries to communicate.
For the purposes of Verses and growing our individual and collective skills and talents, let us define Poetry as artistic expression through the written word. And let each Poet and each audience live to define their own context.
Those aren't exactly the most helpful definitions existent. Suppose we try to refine the concept by defining "Verse":
Poetry defined in relation to Verse, which is in itself defined in relation to Poetry, seems to present a circular argument with no clear definition. This is nothing new; such has been the case consistently as critics and scholars have attempted to codify poetry since its earliest inception. So many attempts at "nailing down" what poetry "is," to no avail.
Admittedly, poetry (or verse) does not easily lend itself to a simple definition. Yet poetry has been with mankind since soon after we learned to speak, and before we learned to write. While modern poetry need not necessarily contain rhyme or meter, the poetry of antquity employed rhyme and meter as a way to help remember our oral histories, and to pass them on to the next generation. To our progenitors, poetry wasn't an art form, or mere expression. It was a legacy, a tool for survival, and, moreover, a necessity.
Humanity's earliest known written works were representations of these oral histories, and thus also the first written examples of "poetry"; The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Homer's Illiad and Odyssey stand out as prime examples of early written epic poetry.
Even now when we try to define poetry, our definitions are all left wanting. Yet try we shall.
Perhaps one of the most important things to remember is that context has always been an integral part of what makes poetry work. Context not only within each poem itself, but context of time (when it's written, when it's read), context of place, and context of experience (both the author's and the reader's). Poetry inevitably tries to communicate something, be it a story, an emotion, a concept . . . what exactly it communicates may differ by writer--or even by audience--but it invariably tries to communicate.
For the purposes of Verses and growing our individual and collective skills and talents, let us define Poetry as artistic expression through the written word. And let each Poet and each audience live to define their own context.