OK, this is an old one, but McSweeney's just retweeted this Poetry FAQ and I read it for the first time, so it's new to me! Felt like sharing it with the poets in case you all haven't read it. And, I gotta say, despite it's silliness, "Poetry is clumps of words that make people feel something" is actually one of the better definitions of poetry I've seen...
with other words, maybe. the individual lines may have a rhythm; the line breaks indicate pauses which do not necessarily conform to grammatical punctuation. there must be emotion apart from any information. so, yes, that arrangement contributes to, but is not sufficient for, poetry.
In the same way that a drawing is an idea with lines around it, a poem is a feeling with words around it.
‘In the same way that a drawing is an idea with lines around it…’ I think I’d disagree on that. Surely a drawing must be differentiated into diagrams/schematics and art. Would art drawings be further divided into realist, abstract and non- realist? Realist drawing is form, not ideas, expressed in two-dimensions.
A drawing is a set of ideas about form or pattern etc. Otherwise if ten artists drew the same thing they'd all look identical. But this is supposed to be about poetry. Poems and stories also have form and pattern. And as with drawing, it can be expressed in countless different ways depending on the mood or ideas of the artist.
Not to drag the thread completely off target, but your comment about drawing reminded me of something I heard an artist say: "The most important part of a painting is the frame." By which he didn't mean how appropriate or ornamental the frame was. He meant that that it represented the boundary of what the artist wanted to include and to exclude. I think that poetry... or any form of good writing... has to hold to that old William Strunk declaration of brevity: "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines or a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." The best poetry, to my mind, compresses meaning into the fewest words. I've cited these lyrics of Jackson Browne before: "But when you see through love's illusions, there lies the danger And your perfect lover just looks like a perfect fool So you go running off in search of a perfect stranger" Note how he uses the word "perfect" in the second line. The first time, it means "ideal" and the second time it's "utter" or "total." So when he uses the word in the third line, you could read "perfect stranger" either way. That's what I mean about compression.
I like that. When a poem says something, but makes you feel something more than what the words themselves say, it works. Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote this short poem, "Heaven-Haven: A Nun Takes the Veil:" It's just a few but superbly selected images, but it speaks worlds about a woman's yearning for peace and solitude and disassociation from the world's strife. If I had to describe all the feelings that poem evokes in my, I'd have to use a lot more than forty-nine words. Note that the rhyme scheme holds, although the meter strays from true consistency. Hopkins knew where the rules worked, and where they didn't.
My mentor said, "Prose is about something. Poetry is something." Sex and chocolate, for example, not just a sex manual or a recipe for chocolate. If a Martian swooped down in a silver saucer from his barren planet and asked, "What is a tree, Earthman?" you'd give him a better answer by just pointing at a tree than trying to explain what a tree is. Why? Because words are only handles to carry the idea of something from one person to another--not the thing itself. But that's what poets do. They find ways to put words together that go deep, not just shallow. So even though my definitions are not poetry, they might give others food for thought for what is poetry. In general, I think poetry is fresh, original, profound, surprising, reader-centered writing that takes your audience on a sensual, emotional and intellectual journey that puts them, face to face with themselves and the world in which they live -- what the reader is seeking and the poet has found. A gift from author to audience, so wrap your poetry with care. Alive with joy, pain, honesty, hunger, struggle and doubt. An experience rather than just an explanation. An invitation to search for deeper meanings with a closer, deeper reading. Audience-centered so we are participants, not spectators. Author-centered to convey poet's experiences, thoughts and feelings. Clear on the surface so we don't have to crack some code to understand it. Concise (less is more), exciting (surprise me) and original (no rules). Deep and meaningful without being enigmatic or confusing. Fire and lightning instead of fireflies and lightning bugs. Like a camera that captures life in word pictures. Line breaks designed to help readers navigate the music and the meaning. More concise and subtle than prose. More than a mere sum of its parts. Mysterious below the surface to invite exploration. Not a puzzle only a literary expert could solve or understand. Not a path that gets you lost in the maze of the poet's mind. Richly ambiguous with layers of meaning. Showing and telling which merges how it means with what it means. Something beyond clever hats and histrionics. Something beyond definitions and rules. Something beyond words, outside pictures. Storytelling with perspective and attitude. Weaves music and meaning together like fine tapestry. Wow, I never saw that this way!
That is actually not that far off how I define it. I am current working on giving a 6-part lector on 'An introduction to writing poetry." The working definition I use is "Poetry is a form of writing that uses rhythm, structure, and wordplay to express and mimic a central idea. This central idea can be an emotion, thought, or action (lyric); a conflict or dilemma for a character/persona (dramatic); or a story (narrative)."
I'm pretty sure I posted this before, but to get to the nuts of what poetry is, two good places to start are Sound and Sense by Laurence Perrine and How Does a Poem Mean? by John Ciardi. The latter author, BTW, did the finest translation of Dante's Divine Comedy that I've encountered.
