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I think a lot of the enthusiasm for poetry has been sapped by the availability of music. Poetry, at least in its initial incarnations, was a mnemonic for memori

I think a lot of the enthusiasm for poetry has been sapped by the availability of music. Poetry, at least in its initial incarnations, was a mnemonic for memorizing. Classically, poetry was often chanted or sung, but even without that help, it is easier to remember then prose. The article talks about the "music of poetry" but only in metaphorical terms rather than literal. Now the advent of recorded music means that all of that has been moved to music instead. People used to dream of having a bunch of poetry memorized -- if you were stuck on an island you could always recite Wordsworth to entertain yourself. Now you'd just hum or sing whatever music strikes your fancy instead. I have personally found myself slightly more able to "get" poetry when I force myself to memorize it -- to me that really lets you appreciate the lyrical nature of good poetry and the use of metaphor and shorthand, which both arose from a necessity of fitting some rhythmic or rhyming scheme, but took on a life of their own.

runevault 6y ago
I would agree with the music. Which is unfortunate because music doesn't tend to encompass all the different forms that poetry possesses, and both have their place. But, on some level, they both explore condensed use of metaphor/rhyme/etc to create powerful emotional effects in the audience, so they share a lot of similarities. For me, learning to write poetry and explore has been great, although funny enough one of the best books to help me with the writing of poetry was Writing Better Lyrics by Pattison, as his advice helps a great deal with poetry (with the above caveat about forms still holding true).
- yellowapple 6y ago
  > Which is unfortunate because music doesn't tend to encompass all the different forms that poetry possesses I mean, can't it? Yeah, most music seems to be pretty restricted in lyrical form, but it'd be interesting to see more freeform lyrical styles. The closest thing in my mind would be something like jazz fusion or progressive rock.
  - runevault 6y ago
    Can it? Sure. But so far I've never heard of say a Sestina being made into a song (at least in modern times). Would such forms fit when tied to melody? I have no clue.
danenania 6y ago
I'd go a bit further and say that song lyrics are poetry in its most populist and accessible form. The distinction is artificial. Of course there's a very wide range of quality, but lyrics written by the best songwriters are also much better as poetry than the vast majority of what gets produced by ivory tower poets who consider themselves above all that. The gatekeeping, obscurantist mindset that has taken over in contemporary poetry is really unfortunate. You won't be taken seriously as a 'real' poet unless your work is completely impenetrable to the average person.
- philwelch 6y ago
  This is particularly true of rap.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  > The gatekeeping, obscurantist mindset that has taken over in contemporary poetry North America and the UK are now at least two decades into trends like slam poetry being ascendant, i.e. poetry that emphasizes being accessible to the public, tackling real-world hardships and political struggles, etc. The publishing decisions of major poetry presses like Faber & Faber are now largely centered around that. Sure, there are still more hermetic or ivory-tower poets around but the heyday of their influence was only up to about the 1980s or 1990s. Nowadays they are mainly publishing in small-press editions that few people will even see copies of (especially due to the death of the bookstore), let alone read.

runevault 6y ago

I would agree with the music. Which is unfortunate because music doesn't tend to encompass all the different forms that poetry possesses, and both have their place. But, on some level, they both explore condensed use of metaphor/rhyme/etc to create powerful emotional effects in the audience, so they share a lot of similarities. For me, learning to write poetry and explore has been great, although funny enough one of the best books to help me with the writing of poetry was Writing Better Lyrics by Pattison, as his advice helps a great deal with poetry (with the above caveat about forms still holding true).

yellowapple 6y ago
> Which is unfortunate because music doesn't tend to encompass all the different forms that poetry possesses I mean, can't it? Yeah, most music seems to be pretty restricted in lyrical form, but it'd be interesting to see more freeform lyrical styles. The closest thing in my mind would be something like jazz fusion or progressive rock.
- runevault 6y ago
  Can it? Sure. But so far I've never heard of say a Sestina being made into a song (at least in modern times). Would such forms fit when tied to melody? I have no clue.

danenania 6y ago

I'd go a bit further and say that song lyrics are poetry in its most populist and accessible form. The distinction is artificial. Of course there's a very wide range of quality, but lyrics written by the best songwriters are also much better as poetry than the vast majority of what gets produced by ivory tower poets who consider themselves above all that. The gatekeeping, obscurantist mindset that has taken over in contemporary poetry is really unfortunate. You won't be taken seriously as a 'real' poet unless your work is completely impenetrable to the average person.

philwelch 6y ago
This is particularly true of rap.
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
> The gatekeeping, obscurantist mindset that has taken over in contemporary poetry North America and the UK are now at least two decades into trends like slam poetry being ascendant, i.e. poetry that emphasizes being accessible to the public, tackling real-world hardships and political struggles, etc. The publishing decisions of major poetry presses like Faber & Faber are now largely centered around that. Sure, there are still more hermetic or ivory-tower poets around but the heyday of their influence was only up to about the 1980s or 1990s. Nowadays they are mainly publishing in small-press editions that few people will even see copies of (especially due to the death of the bookstore), let alone read.