I'm a slack bastard, Anny, and I hadn't seen that site. Thanks for directing
us to it. I'm an Oppen fan, so enjoyed the 'second half' a lot. & liked some
new definitions for me, particulalry the cats' chorus in Simic's one.
I used to trot out John Wain's 'Poetry is to prose as dancing is to
walking.' But now I have to define dancing to use it >g<
Andrew
On 26/08/07, Anny Ballardini <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I am sure you all know this page on the Poets' Corner, still I am sending
> it
> over:
> http://www.fieralingue.it/corner.php?pa=printpage&pid=287
>
> boringly yours,
>
>
> On 8/25/07, TheOldMole <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > Variously attributed to Emily Dickinson, E. A. Robinson, and probably a
> > bunch of other people -- it's poetry if it makes the hair on the back of
> > your neck stand up. And if poetry hat unfolds in a conversational style
> > can do that, then it passes the test.
> >
> > But this is still my favorite definition from Italo Calvino, because it
> > so successfully answers the two questions -- What is Art? and What is
> > Good Art?
> >
> > Both in art and in literature, the function of the frame is fundamental.
> > It is the frame that marks the boundary between the picture and what is
> > outside. It allows the picture to exist, isolating it from the rest; but
> > at the same time, it recalls--and somehow stands for--everything that
> > remains out of the picture. I might venture a definition: we consider
> > poetic a production in which each individual experience acquires
> > prominence through its detachment from the general continuum, while it
> > retains a kind of glint of that unlimited vastness.
> >
> > Joanna Boulter wrote:
> > > Often, when people ask "What is poetry?" they mean "How can I tell
> > > whether what I'm writing qualifies?" It's back to Lynda's point about
> > > conversational poems -- they don't seem serious enough, and surely if
> > > it's that easy anyone can do it. And then of course there's the
> > > "That's not poetry, it's chopped-up prose" stance. It's akin to the
> > > modern art controversy -- "My 3-year-old can do as well as that!"
> > >
> > > I have to admit, there are times when I could use an easily-grasped
> > > definition, purely in self-defence.
> > >
> > > joanna
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Corelis"
> > > <[log in to unmask]>
> > > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > > Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 6:10 PM
> > > Subject: Poetry? What's that?
> > >
> > >
> > >> "What is poetry?"
> > >>
> > >> To me, the question is not nearly so interesting as the fact that
> it's
> > >> asked and that no one's surprised that it's asked.
> > >>
> > >> "What is music?" The question would only occur to a few cloistered
> > >> aestheticians. It would never occur to most people, even most
> > >> musicians and composers, to spend much time worrying about it. And
> if
> > >> anyone does ask it, it usually doesn't really mean "What is music?"
> > >> -- that is, what is its concrete definition, how does it differ from
> > >> speech or noise -- but is shorthand for more general questions like
> > >> "What does music mean? What is its role in life? What are the
> > >> reasons it affects us?" Whereas the question "What is poetry?" is
> > >> almost always a way of asking for the concrete definition -- "Exactly
> > >> how is poetry different from things that aren't poetry?" "What are
> the
> > >> criteria by which we call one thing poetry and something else not
> > >> poetry?" -- which must precede those more general questions. In
> other
> > >> words, "everyone knows" what music is, but nobody knows what poetry
> > >> is.
> > >>
> > >> "What is cinema?" The question is famous, but only among a small
> > >> coterie of theorists. The average movie goer would find it quite
> > >> irrelevant, if not absurd, to try to define what a movie is.
> > >>
> > >> "What is art?" A question made much of in the art world, I suspect
> > >> mostly because public attempts by artists to raise it are an
> effective
> > >> way of getting media attention.
> > >>
> > >> "What is the significance that the question 'What is poetry?" is so
> > >> often asked and never really answered?"
> > >> --
> > >> ===================================
> > >>
> > >> Jon Corelis www.geocities.com/jgcorelis/
> > >>
> > >> ===================================
> > >>
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Tad Richards
> > http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
> > http://opusforty.blogspot.com/
> >
>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
http://www.inblogs.net/hispirits
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/
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