The Making of a Poem
The first of a series of short essays about poems and how they get written.
A poem is a complex, individual work of art. In this way, it is like a dance, or a piece of music, or a painting. This seems self evident, but because poems are also events of language or speech acts, readers and writers often get confused and start to believe that a poem needs a job. Many believe that a poem must persuade, or influence, cast aspersions, tell hard truths, break silences, raise up the weak. What is the job of a piece of music? What work does a dance do? Or a painting? These questions seem absurd when asked of music or dance or a painting, but people seem to want poets to earn their keep by having their work fulfill some constructive social purpose. Of course a poem can fulfill a social purpose, but I don’t think poetry should be expected to do more than to offer itself to readers who then reward the work with their time and attention.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to From the Wunderkammer to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.