09-23-2011, 10:26 PM
I wrote a long response to this, a diatribe even, but presumably pressed the wrong button.
I would just say this. If people do not wish to communicate, good: that is very easily achieved, either by writing nonsense or writing nothing.
Poetry, and especially narrative poetry, is writing to communicate fairly precisely. That is why it is possible to recount the story of Homer's 'Iliad'. and that is why it is possible to translate poetry from one tongue to another. Leanne (who is away I think, so I can say what I like) places a lot of weight on ambiguity. It is argued that whatever the writer writes, the reader takes away something different in greater or lesser degree, because of his own thoughts ,background, environment. That in my view is not an argument for making a poem ambiguous, but for trying to make it as crystal-clear as possible, just because you know that the reader will not receive it as it leaves your mind.
Now dead-wood. In a long poem, an epic, or a narrative poem, the reader must be helped along. This is achieved by repetition, and by saying the same thing in a different way, so that the picture is well-painted, and re-inforced. In some cultures, this is par for the course. Arabic writers, perhaps addressing people from different parts, often will repeat something in different ways, which is v handy for the poor learner, struggling to make sense of the language. I am with Claude!
I would just say this. If people do not wish to communicate, good: that is very easily achieved, either by writing nonsense or writing nothing.
Poetry, and especially narrative poetry, is writing to communicate fairly precisely. That is why it is possible to recount the story of Homer's 'Iliad'. and that is why it is possible to translate poetry from one tongue to another. Leanne (who is away I think, so I can say what I like) places a lot of weight on ambiguity. It is argued that whatever the writer writes, the reader takes away something different in greater or lesser degree, because of his own thoughts ,background, environment. That in my view is not an argument for making a poem ambiguous, but for trying to make it as crystal-clear as possible, just because you know that the reader will not receive it as it leaves your mind.
Now dead-wood. In a long poem, an epic, or a narrative poem, the reader must be helped along. This is achieved by repetition, and by saying the same thing in a different way, so that the picture is well-painted, and re-inforced. In some cultures, this is par for the course. Arabic writers, perhaps addressing people from different parts, often will repeat something in different ways, which is v handy for the poor learner, struggling to make sense of the language. I am with Claude!