Also, my obsession with poetry is absolutely to do with the musicality of it. There is almost a mystical power in hidden rhyme, phonetic patterns, assonance, and repetition. When a skilled poet hides that music from the eye, but not the ear, I get an intense pleasure from reading it. I suppose it's all to do with harmony...if something is musical, then we automatically think of it as "true". Think about how powerful rhyme is and how it is used (misused) in advertising...when something rhymes, we automatically think it's true and we remember it.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away...what?!? Lol. It rhymes, so it must be true...
Thanks for the compliment my friend. You're making a VERY good point and one backed up by neuroscientists, psychologists, NLP practitioners, hell even evolutionary biologists will talk about things like bird song.
Rhyme and alliteration definitely FEEL like they point to some sort of deeper level within the construction of language itself. I don't care about the origin of the Corpus Hermeticum - divine revelation - no. Product of the original Greek philosophers? Medieval forgery? I don't think option three weakens its ideas one iota. It talks about language as both a path to "divine power" and a construct that must be transcended (NOT destroyed) to reach it. Substitute divine power with self actualisation and the point very much stands :)
Some excellent points. Thinking about all this, I would say that poetry utilises a methodology distinct from either storytelling or journalism.
Poetry (IMHO) is more concerned with form than function in language. Novelists and journalists will sometimes use wordplay, alliteration, or aesthetic devices on a piece to underline a point, or to improve the piece atheistically. Poets, however, see these devices as integral to their craft, concerned with investigating or manipulating language over linear narrative.
This opens up a distinct form of investigation offering substantially different results. People sometimes complain that poetry is rambling or opaque, with too many disconnected ideas. Actually, the poet has stumbled upon interesting connections between seemingly unrelated words and phrases. Similarities in pronunciation and/or their appearance on the page revealing esoteric connections.
Like the ancient Egyptian or Mesopotamian scribes, poets bring language back to the realm of the metaphysical and transcendental. Syllables become symphonic and ciphers become sculptural. Language becomes a tool to shape thought and experience, rather a mechanism to catalogue them. Through poetry, we also see how reshaping language can expand our experience and scope of possibility. The words flower and power seem to hold completely different ideas - a passive expression of natural beauty and a man-made concept of dominance. Yet they share the same phonetic root… What does that mean? What can we do with that? Best send in the poets.
I love how you describe poetry as suspending logic. It’s why a single line can haunt us longer than an entire novel.
I also have a personal question I wanted to ask, I left it inbox, when you have time please check it out.
This is a beautiful write up!
Also, my obsession with poetry is absolutely to do with the musicality of it. There is almost a mystical power in hidden rhyme, phonetic patterns, assonance, and repetition. When a skilled poet hides that music from the eye, but not the ear, I get an intense pleasure from reading it. I suppose it's all to do with harmony...if something is musical, then we automatically think of it as "true". Think about how powerful rhyme is and how it is used (misused) in advertising...when something rhymes, we automatically think it's true and we remember it.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away...what?!? Lol. It rhymes, so it must be true...
Thanks for the compliment my friend. You're making a VERY good point and one backed up by neuroscientists, psychologists, NLP practitioners, hell even evolutionary biologists will talk about things like bird song.
Rhyme and alliteration definitely FEEL like they point to some sort of deeper level within the construction of language itself. I don't care about the origin of the Corpus Hermeticum - divine revelation - no. Product of the original Greek philosophers? Medieval forgery? I don't think option three weakens its ideas one iota. It talks about language as both a path to "divine power" and a construct that must be transcended (NOT destroyed) to reach it. Substitute divine power with self actualisation and the point very much stands :)
Some excellent points. Thinking about all this, I would say that poetry utilises a methodology distinct from either storytelling or journalism.
Poetry (IMHO) is more concerned with form than function in language. Novelists and journalists will sometimes use wordplay, alliteration, or aesthetic devices on a piece to underline a point, or to improve the piece atheistically. Poets, however, see these devices as integral to their craft, concerned with investigating or manipulating language over linear narrative.
This opens up a distinct form of investigation offering substantially different results. People sometimes complain that poetry is rambling or opaque, with too many disconnected ideas. Actually, the poet has stumbled upon interesting connections between seemingly unrelated words and phrases. Similarities in pronunciation and/or their appearance on the page revealing esoteric connections.
Like the ancient Egyptian or Mesopotamian scribes, poets bring language back to the realm of the metaphysical and transcendental. Syllables become symphonic and ciphers become sculptural. Language becomes a tool to shape thought and experience, rather a mechanism to catalogue them. Through poetry, we also see how reshaping language can expand our experience and scope of possibility. The words flower and power seem to hold completely different ideas - a passive expression of natural beauty and a man-made concept of dominance. Yet they share the same phonetic root… What does that mean? What can we do with that? Best send in the poets.