[lit-ideas] Clarity in Poetry
- From: Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2005 00:40:10 -0400
We seem to be hung up on the word "clear." Let me start with some
points about poetic clarity.
Poetic clarity is the effect of compressed, integrative verbal
energy. A poem cannot be reduced into its constituent parts or
techniques and still retain its integrity. It cannot be rephrased in
ordinary discourse, paraphrased, abridged, or otherwise tampered
with. I maintain that this poetic effect is clarity because it
cannot be restated in any way that better conveys its essence.
Otherwise it would be another poem, or it would be "writing about
poetry," which is a secondary form of literature. Such writing
about poetry does not merely lack "poetic qualities." It lacks
poetic essence, just as writing about food lacks nutrition.
To demand of a poem that it convery "absence of redundant
expression" is to miss the point. Donal recovers this point when he
writes, "A poem may also fulfil its artistic or aethetic functions
by being diffuse rather than focused in meaning, and thus by not
being concise; it is surely possible to use deliberate redundancy
(for example, repetition) in a poem - and this can be done skilfully
without saying the function of the redundancy is therefore concision."
Yes! Deliberate redundancy in a poem may be the most concise
expression of the poetic effect. Diffuse meaning may also be the
most concise expression. It depends on the poem.
My point may become clear by repeating the anecdote and examining
Donal's take on it.
Sibelius played an early recording of his Fourth Symphony to a
critic friend. When it was over, the critic asked, "What does it
mean?" Sibelius held up his index finger and played the recording again.
Donal writes: The demand for further clarification, or "what does it
mean?", is often uncomprehending or a result of lack of
comprehension that cannot easily be alleviated by way of explanation
(that is why Sibelius's explanation is, in effect, 'Just listen
again').
Eric: No, it's more than "just listen again." The meaning of
Sibelius' Fourth Symphony IS Sibelius' Fourth Symphony. No amount of
explanation, Shenkerian analysis, musicological analysis--even if
given by a god of music--could give a clearer meaning of the
Sibelius Fourth. The meaning of Sibelius' Fourth Symphony IS the
Sibelius Fourth Symphony. It is the most clear, concise, thorough
expression of the Sibelius Fourth Symphony.
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