On Poetry & Poetic Forms

[Mike Baker]

On Wed, 5 Jun 1996, Heather Rose Jones wrote:
> Of translations, I tend only to require that they present _either_ the
> sense or the structure of the original -- although both is wonderful. My
> tendency is to assume that our mandate here is for the historic artistic
> styles of the SCA's scope -- and secondarily for modern compositions on
> SCA themes, but the two should be clearly distinguished.

Agreed.  I will probably prove more likely than some to blur the 
distinction: allow me to make my apology in advance.  As much as I strive to 
maintain the two in separation, my "apprenticeship" in filk undoes me all 
too often.  (Yes, I am one as likely to bastardize the ballad for SCA 
purposes as to use older, more authentic forms:  I am aware of my 
limitations in doing so, and *will* be striving to change my ways.  Some 
things from our childhoods hang on rather tenaciously, however.)

>> I will admit to being more than usually conservative in my personal
>> definition of poetry.  If a piece does not consist of rhymed sequences of 

>> lines fixed in a pattern, or does not meet the strictures of a syllabic
>> counting structure / rhythmic form, I find it difficult to accord the 
title
>> "poem" to the work at hand.
> We could condense it down to "a poem is langauge in a fixed metrical
> structure", which covers just about every eventuality I know.

Works for me.

> While free verse is a fixture of modern poetry, I'll have to admit that 
for me it
> lacks that essential facet of showing the poet's skill in mastering --
> and not being mastered by -- the meter.

Free verse is Not a fixture among *all* poets in the modern age, but far too 
few seem to show proper respect and knowledge of the metrical forms. 
 Amazing as it may seem, the so-called "cowboy poets" may be the primary 
"school" still using rhymed forms as the preferred vehicle for creating new 
poetry -- at least outside the music industry and a few obscure literary 
magazines.

Free verse is, to my prejudiced sight, a specialized form of prose much more 
than it has any real claim to the dignity of the poetic name.

Kihe Blackeagle (the Dreamsinger Bard)  s.k.a. Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri 
al-Amra
Mike C. Baker                      mbaker at rapp.com
Any opinions expressed are obviously my own unless explicitly stated 
otherwise!