Poetry Review and Discussion.

Maybe because I get a mention, this item is very interesting. 

However, it is a distillation of many, many insights and comments.       

Group: Poetry Review and Discuss

      Discussion: What makes a composition a free form poem rather than simply a piece of chopped-about prose? This is something that taxes me and I would love feedback.

       

Bonnie Jean, if I may be so bold (and too often am), you have no cause whatever for embarrassment.

Look above at Bonnie Roberts and James Hercules and James Brown and Jim Spain and Ronald--five of the finest critical minds on these pages--attempting to define poetry.

And failing magnificently. 

While reading their wonderful posts I have come to some penetrating new insights on the nature of poetry and prose. What I have NOT learned is--what IS poetry?

I mean, a normative "definition". a delineation that will encompass all poetry. Uh-uh. Not going to happen. And IMO, probably we'll encounter similar roadblocks defining prose.



And in various posts and at various junctures in their discussion, the five thinkers noted above acknowledge the great difficulty of defining art forms--and question the value of the enterprise--if it inhibits the creativity of artists.



Bonnie Jean's question opens up yet anothe avenue of enquiry:how to distinguish (or should we bother) between "prose" and "story" or "fiction"?

A lot of stories, traditional and contemporary, present in Poetry--but many more in what most of us would call "prose". Where's the dividing line?



Help, Fab Five!

Posted by Clark Cook