Monday, July 04, 2005

Definitions of Poetry

My own definitions of poetry when asked in class:

1. Poetry is a series of words and phrases arranged with the intention of attaining aesthetic and mnemotechnic effects; in other words, the arrangement needs to be "beautiful" (whatever it may mean) and memorable.

2. Poetry is a set of words charged with condensed possibilities of meaning beyond a simple, linear communication.

Then Jen gave us some examples given by poets of which I quote the following:

Poetry is---

"memorable speech" (Auden) [Did I know this from somewhere?]

"a machine made of words" (William Carlos Williams)

"an emotional machine made of words" (Phillip Larkin)

"the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits" (Carl Sandburg)