🚀 go-pugleaf

On Friday, July 22, 2022 at 2:42:42 PM UTC-4, george...@yahoo.ca wrote:
> "Philip Larkin would leave half-finished poems in a drawer for decades 
> until he found the right lines to complete them. Let’s reserve the word 
> 'poet' for writers who respect language enough to do things like that." 
> https://www.theage.com.au/culture/music/bob-dylan-a-great-poet-a-great-delusion-more-like-it-20220502-p5ahrz.html 
> 
> "Dumb ass. Real poets can write a poem as easily as some of us think. 
> In other words, it doesn’t take fucking decades." 
> https://groups.google.com/g/alt.arts.poetry.comments/c/i7lvIdnUvwU/m/PV9DS2-UAgAJ?hl=en

The two views only appear to cancel one another out when uses them as exclusive definitions of "poet."

In reality, each is only a partial definition:

The first statement pertains to devotion to one's craft; the second, to natural talent.

Poets come in both varieties.

You, PJR and Gwyneth fall under the first category, Jim, NancyGene and myself under the second.

Nor are these partial definitions mutually exclusive.  Natural poets can possess a great deal of devoted craftsmanship, and craftsmen can possess their share of talent.  It's simply a matter of which type is dominant.

The first type are formalists: interested in composing specific poetry forms, meters, etc.  The second group has an informal approach which can span from traditional rhyme/meter to free verse.

Both groups have the potential to produce quality poetry.


Michael Pendragon
"Good morning Video, keep up the great work."
-- Will Dockery, a man who wants his MTV.