POETRY AND DEFINITIONS

“Poetry is a dream dreamed in the presence of reason” - Tomasso Ceva (1)

(2)

INTRODUCTION

Poetry, considered as the art of crafting by Benjamin Jonson, is a literary form that utilizes aestetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke emotions and meanings. (1, 3)

As a craft hard to define, poetry stands as a necessary instrument of humanity. It all started a long time ago, all the way in prehistory some say, with magic spells to ensure a good harvest. (3)

Poetry might have even predated literacy. Whether true or not, poems were the go-to for transferring information, accounts, tales, and whatnot orally in ancient times. It was a vital part of humanity. Many great legends would have been lost to time, if not properly written down and documented. (3)

WHAT IS POETRY?

A WONDER TO HARD TO DEFINE

How can a flow of the purest of rivers by mere words be defined?

Where can we wisdom to define poetry find?

Too great is the language of poetry;

for humans to cage and mar its beauty.

The great poets of old and new collectively agree on one thing: poetry is hard to define. Trying to put a definition to it is considered a little short of a fool's game. As Samuel Johnson says “To circumscribe poetry by a definition will only show the narrowness of the definer.” (1)

How can we define it? After all there is so much wonder to be found in poetry.

Many consider it a magical play of words. Coleridge equals it to “the best words in the best order. That synthetic and magical power, to which we have exclusively appropriated the name of imagination.” (1)

Robert Graves saw poetry as “stored magic,” Andre Breton on the other hand as a “room of marvels.” Gavin Douglas added his two scents and saw it as “pleasance and half wonder.” (1)

Joseph Brodsky and Seamus Heaney both went scientific on us in their definitions. Brodsky considered it as “accelerated thinking,” and Seamus Heaney likened it to a “language in orbit.” (1)

It is still distinct from science as Paul Dirac noted: “In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.” (4)

CRAFT ON ITS OWN

Ben Jonson considers poetry as the art of crafting. Plutarch shared his sentiments. He said: “Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.” (1)

It is “the art of uniting pleasure with truth” per Samuel Johnson. Marianne Moore sees it more as “the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads”. (4)

POETRY IS VERSE

Poetry truly is a form all on its own. I like to lean more on Tolstoy’s practicality. He had the following to say, “Poetry is verse: prose is not verse. Or else poetry is everything with the exception of business documents and school books.” (1)

The easiest attempts to define poetry do eventually bring us to its most noticeable elements in comparison to prose - verse, rhyme, stanzas, rhythm, and so forth.

Voltaire does say though: “One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.” (4)

TELL ME A STORY OF OLD

Tell me a story of ancient times;

tell me accounts of old in verses, in rhymes.

Jolt my memory with poems of old,

bring up stories of hope and victory in this season cold.

The first glimpses of poetry could be found in magic spells performed to secure a fruitful harvest. Per some scholars, it may have predated the written word. (3)

In Africa, it goes back to prehistory with hunting, panegyric, and elegiac court poetry of the empires of the Nile, Niger, and Volta River valleys. Some forms were also found in the Pyramid Texts written during the 25th century BCE. (3)

In Asia the oldest text found is an epic poem about Gilgamesh written in the Sumerian. They also found folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, religious hymns (such as the Sanskrit Rigveda, the Zoroastrian Gathas, the Hurrian songs, and the Hebrew Psalms); and retellings of oral epics (such as the Egyptian Story of Sinuhe, Indian epic poetry, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey) (3)

Most of these songs and epics contained historical accounts coupled with praise and overcoming victory detailings that taught future generations lessons learned, tactics implemented, or imparted wisdom gained. Many a time it also details accounts of events of divine rebellion and the sad endings of it.

Yet as Aristotle says, “Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.” (4)

Plato shared his thoughts: “ Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.” (4)

THE AIM OF POETRY

Fundamentally poetry is in its oral form a verbal transaction between a speaker and a listener or in the case of written form, a writer and reader. It establishes a relationship in order to convey a certain message that can go beyond mere words, invoke feelings, a response or even to convey messages. (3)

“Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity, it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance,” says John Keats. (4)

In poetry, one can find freedom. Freedom to express themselves as they desire to. Allen Ginsberg considers poetry “as the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private.” (4)

John F. Kennedy saw great power in it. He said, “When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. (4)

Yes, poetry in the past left its biggest mark in recounting heroic deeds of great characters of old. But has since taken mostly a different course. Nowadays it is mostly used as an outlet of feelings, and truths. Jim Morrison for instance aims through poetry “to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel.” (4)

CONCLUSION

Poetry is hard to define. To pure, to wonderful. Many attempted to give it justice, but mere words tend to come short of its glory. It is an art and a craft of its own. What presumably began as magic spells, mostly in oral form, continued onwards with the accountings of tales, epics, and the transference of information. In modern-day, poetry is an outlet for emotions, thoughts that we all think and feel but rarely express. “Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn”, Thomas Grey.

SOURCES

Edward Hirsch. A Poet's Glossary: Poetry. Available at https://poets.org/glossary/poetry
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Wikipedia. Poetry. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry
Brainy Quote. Poetry quotes. Available at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/poetry-quotes