I honestly am completely in the dark when it comes to experimental poetry. A part of my problem, if you will, is that when I think of poetry, I think of some deep and meaningful piece of work that's elegant and refined. I think of classical poetry like Shakespeare and I feel all other poetry is 'new age.' The poetry we have been reading in class has shown how right and wrong I am. I believe I'm not the only one either. Discussing the poems in class, we all had certain views and beliefs about poetry that showed in our interpretations and critiques. Modern poetry and experimental poetry have 'purists' raving mad and many people don't like it or accept it as such. It's new, it's special, it's just plain different. I am in the middle, not liking it but am open to learning about it. As we went into further details and dissecting just the text itself, it became clearer to me how unique and exciting experimental poetry is. They break the set barriers of what many believe poetry to be, which ignites many discussions on if they should be allowed to do so. This difference is the key problem for many people, including myself. Anything different is going to spark debate and also anger a few people. The cutting and pasting of other people's work, the word for word radio dialogue turned into a book of poetry...many of us believe these things not to be poetry. But what really is poetry? Even our guest speaker had a hard time defining what poetry truly is. With that, how can one consider experimental poetry or any other unique form to be 'lesser' or even not poetry at all? I am the least likely person to say if something is poetry or not or if experimental poetry is lesser or better. But I will say it's the difference and uniqueness that holds me back from fully embracing it at the beginning compared to other forms of poetry.
Jae Khoury
Jae, I agree with you. Because of the nature of art finding a definition isn't as straightforward as completing a math problem. We are constantly redefining the definitions of these arts.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can respect experimental poetry and maybe even agree to learn more about it, I admit that I am not the type to write it. Moreover, I prefer to not read it...I find more satisfaction in standard and classical forms of poetry.
While a transcription of a radio segment may not be considered poetry by all, the apparent thought behind the action pushes modern audiences to bend the rules of poetry.
~Nitesh Arora
Jae I am as lost as you are. I wouldn't say that when I think of poetry that my thoughts go straight to Shakespeare, but I do think of some famous poet like poets from the Harlem Renaissance, such as Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and James Weldon Johnson. I also think of other famous poets like T.S. Elliot, E.E. Cummings, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. But like you said I also think of poetry as something that's deep and inspirational. I like to think of poetry as something that the reader does not usually understand the first time reading but after getting the concept the reader is motivated and convinced to do something better. But I will admit I was confused with the experimental poetry but I have an open mind to it and am willing to learn more about it.
ReplyDeleteJaaziah
Nitesh they are definitely "bending the rules" but I think in class we touched on that there are no rules, except the ones created by the writer themselves. The "f-ing fault" poem really just threw me all off and I loathe that word too so I think I was more apprehensive to accept the experimental side of poetry because I'm sure there are instances where it can offend some. It almost seems like experimental should be defined as open minded and you really can't have any misgivings at all, if one is truly going to accept it.
ReplyDeleteCindy Davis
Cindy, If you study the six great odes of Keats, you will see how he co-apts the quatrains and sestets of Elizabethan and Petrarchan sonnets to make a new stanzaic structure, and then works on modifications and variations of that structure... this is experimental. Anyone with sufficient knowledge and/or imagination could do the same, though it is unlikely in the extreme that your efforts will approach those of Keats!
ReplyDeleteCraig Fontenot