Read on Twitter
Thread: When John Betjeman rhymed scones with stones in ‘How to get on in society’ (in a poem about the mistakes that identify people as not Upper Class when they are pretending to be) so the reader automatically read it with the pronounciation perceived as non Upper Class...
at the time of the poem, that was genius.
And by that I mean, you can use nuanced and intelligent techniques to enhance a poems reading for people who notice it, without a poem being a indecipherable cryptex.
And you can have a poem that’s enigmatic, uses coded language,...
And by that I mean, you can use nuanced and intelligent techniques to enhance a poems reading for people who notice it, without a poem being a indecipherable cryptex.
And you can have a poem that’s enigmatic, uses coded language,...
or obscure literary references. But this is most effective when using language in that way reflects the subject or themes in the poem.
Making things complicated for the sake of sounding ‘poetic’ means you don’t understand that poetic techniques are just tools to sharpen the...
Making things complicated for the sake of sounding ‘poetic’ means you don’t understand that poetic techniques are just tools to sharpen the...
preciseness of your words to be as efficient as possible at giving your reader as close to what’s in your head as you can.
As the misattributed quote says (although there is quotations that summise that Einstein did agree with it) “if you can’t explain something simply you...
As the misattributed quote says (although there is quotations that summise that Einstein did agree with it) “if you can’t explain something simply you...
don’t understand it well enough”.
Art is a form of communication, poetry with irremovable ties to language which is, by design and nature, for communication even more so. So a poem that intentionally excludes a reader, without there being a reason to do so (without a point)...
Art is a form of communication, poetry with irremovable ties to language which is, by design and nature, for communication even more so. So a poem that intentionally excludes a reader, without there being a reason to do so (without a point)...
does not automatically become more intelligent and poetic. In fact, the opposite. If you bend language to become indecipherable without intent of its affect on the poem and how it is read*, you have failed to use language in a way that communicates your thought or idea...
Considering that’s what language is for, and poetry is an art form of language, that’s a fairly large failure.
*remembering that I did specify that you can do all these things intentionally. For example a poem about elitism in poetry would be a great place to make a poem...
*remembering that I did specify that you can do all these things intentionally. For example a poem about elitism in poetry would be a great place to make a poem...
near unreadable. So technically making a poem unreadable to show how poetic you are, is doing it with an intent. But the intent isn’t to communicate. So whilst your poem might effectively show how capable you are of writing a poem which is difficult to read, if the reader...
doesn’t understand that is the point it doesn’t work. Think satire, if it isn’t apparently satire, then it’s just (often) offensive. It is the writers job to effectively use their tools to create what they want to happen in the readers mind, and if that doesn’t happen, your...
reader isn’t automatically “less intelligent” than you, your poem just isn’t tailored for their reading. It’s up to the poet to decide if it should be.
Some poems contain cultural markers, words, moments that are specific and connect with only some readers. Not everything...
Some poems contain cultural markers, words, moments that are specific and connect with only some readers. Not everything...
can be universal. If the poet decides that poem, or at least those references in that poem, don’t need to be understood by people who haven’t experienced those references - it doesn’t make everyone else stupid. A poem can be great just working for those who know it’s setting...
But a lot of magic in poetry is showing something few people have seen to a lot of people, in a way that they too can imagine it.
And to do that, poets have to use their language effectively, efficiently and intentionally to reach out to the reader. Not the other way round.
And to do that, poets have to use their language effectively, efficiently and intentionally to reach out to the reader. Not the other way round.
