Comments | oh_lorelei: You're going to express yourself creatively, and THIS IS HOW YOU'RE GOING TO DO IT.

oh_lorelei

You're going to express yourself creatively, and THIS IS HOW YOU'RE GOING TO DO IT.

Nov 09, 2005 23:48

Maybe when you first think about a text written about the proper way to create poetry, it stops you short. It seems restrictive, uncalled for. Well, this is the idea that passed through my head when I thought about it - but only for a minute. Horace's Ans Poetica, while it does offer insights and suggestions as to what will lead to the best poetry ( Read more... )

Comments 4

liver86 November 11 2005, 19:02:59 UTC

I too thought that Ars Poetica would be a strict guide for poetry as well until I read it. It's "quite good" as our prof would say. However, I always thought that poetry was free, uncontrained by anything, which is how most of my friends and I write poetry. We're the anti-poetry poets heheh. Not really.

Coining new words is fun. I used to constantly do that as an early-teen, but I've forgotten most of them. Most were pretty vulgar I think, now that I look back at it. None which I care to repeat in an academic journal such as this. But yes, words die with age and new ones are constantly being born. It's always a thrill to hear a newly invented word and laugh at the intended meaning when compared to what one thought it meant based on the sound.

..aim of poetry inmindinmadness November 14 2005, 01:22:18 UTC

Your comment made on the use of words and there meaning in poetry was very nicely placed. It is true, the world is our oyster!Lets hope we all find our own pearl!

kuinr November 18 2005, 16:38:36 UTC

Excellent post. One point: when Horace talks about the "utile", which the translation calls "profit" he does not, I think, have $$$ in mind. The 16C called it "instruction and delight", and the best modern way to think of it is that reading the poem should make you in some way, however small, a better person.
For Chris: Poetry is indeed free; but as one gets over teenagehood, haven't you found that often the best freedom is within a set of parameters, rather than out on the hills? It's the difference between exploring the ocean in a boat or just jumping in and swimming; or, indeed, learning to swim with a good crawl or just dogpaddling.

liver86 November 18 2005, 23:14:44 UTC

How can something be free within a set of parameters, may I ask? Sure, our imagination is limited, as Descartes said, our "new ideas" are limited by pre-existing ideas. Such as a chimeira, which is a monster that consists of animals which already exist, like a griffin, which is a monster with an eagle's torso with a lion's lower body. Any "new" idea is an idea that has already been thought of, meaning that ideas are limited by space, design, time, and such ( ... )