Thoughts on Contemporary Poetry, Free Verse Debate - John Anderson's Blog

The current "Contemporary Poetry" Contest sponsored by Cecelia Hopkins-Drewer raises many issues that many people think about. Below are some thoughts on the topic.

=> I once left a poetry site because my poems were deleted without notice by the editor who claimed they were not 'poetry'.

Steven Fry wrote 'The Ode Less Travelled' a 'how to guide' for people to learn the discipline of writing traditional 'metered' poems ('iambic'), but strangely none of his poems are published - for him poetry is a private act for his own private pleasure: 'I do not write poetry for publication'.

[Surely this is the weakness of his argument - as most people write poetry to be read by others or shared]. The book is a great read and he has a wonderful undertanding of poetry.

Stephen Fry advocates structure, technique and rhythm in poetry

[ his book teaches it with many exercises mostly about rhythm and meter ]

Quotes - "Learning the lingo is the begining of our rite of passage. Talent is inborn but technique is learned. Talent without technique is like an engine without a steering wheel, gear or brakes."

Quotes from W.H. Auden

The poet who writes "free" verse is like Robinson Crusoe on his desert island: he must do all his cooking, laundry and darning for himself. In a few exceptional cases, this manly independence produces something original and impressive, but more often the result is squalor — dirty sheets on the unmade bed and empty bottles on the unswept floor.

A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.

A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it.

But it is unbecoming in an artist to talk about inspiration; that is the reader's business.

[Is poetry an art or craft? How much does technque, structure, form or tools matter?]