'Free Verse' - Poetry or Prose?
Published by: Wrathnar the Unreasonable on 23rd Sep 2011 |
View all blogs by Wrathnar the Unreasonable
'Free Verse' -
Poetry or Prose?
Though some might bemoan the fecundity of my loquacious effluence
It has never been my intention to discombobulate, perturb or flummox.
Whereas I would ostensibly apostatise the insipidity of mundane prose
There are those who would demur that vers libre lies not within the bailiwick of poesy;
Innocent as it is of alliteration, assonance, rhythm, rhyme or meter,
Nor even the resonance between the penultimate phoneme of some polysyllable
Reflected in the articulation of a sonorous diphthong in a subsequent ablative or gerund,
It is a contentious controversy which may never be susceptible to consensus.
If I might be permitted briefly to digress, in order to elucidate
That literary form is merely an aperture through which one may endeavour to communicate,
Then may it not be efficacious to abjure and abrogate prolixity and concatenation,
To be abstemious of verbosity, aspiring towards the idealistic acme of succinctness?
Although my vocabulary is incontrovertibly diminutive,
I require no authoritative dispensation in order to fabricate any conceptual edifice
For the edification of my hypothetical prospective readership:
No composition reminiscent of the Juggernaut of Biblical scripture
Shall be disseminated by the contrivances of my disingenuous calligraphy.
Though some might bemoan the fecundity of my loquacious effluence
It has never been my intention to discombobulate, perturb or flummox.
Whereas I would ostensibly apostatise the insipidity of mundane prose
There are those who would demur that vers libre lies not within the bailiwick of poesy;
Innocent as it is of alliteration, assonance, rhythm, rhyme or meter,
Nor even the resonance between the penultimate phoneme of some polysyllable
Reflected in the articulation of a sonorous diphthong in a subsequent ablative or gerund,
It is a contentious controversy which may never be susceptible to consensus.
If I might be permitted briefly to digress, in order to elucidate
That literary form is merely an aperture through which one may endeavour to communicate,
Then may it not be efficacious to abjure and abrogate prolixity and concatenation,
To be abstemious of verbosity, aspiring towards the idealistic acme of succinctness?
Although my vocabulary is incontrovertibly diminutive,
I require no authoritative dispensation in order to fabricate any conceptual edifice
For the edification of my hypothetical prospective readership:
No composition reminiscent of the Juggernaut of Biblical scripture
Shall be disseminated by the contrivances of my disingenuous calligraphy.
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14 Comments
bemoan, fecund, discombobulate, ostensible, insipid, demur, bailiwick, penultimate, digress, aperture.
May possibly have overdone it somewhat.
Sir M - prefer the first half, but agree that poetry lies in the eye of the beholder. If the poet presents it as a poem I give the benefit of the doubt and read it as such. Poetry is whatever you say it is. Besides, if I have to put up with the stranger kinds of modern art, the world can put up with my free verse!
Robert Graves (splendid chap) had some thing to say on the subject in his 'Observations on poetry':
"The writers of vers libre rely on their printers to call your attention to what is called 'cadence' or 'rhythmic relation' (not easy to follow) which might have escaped you if printed as prose; this sentence, you'll find, has its thumb to its nose."
Most people don't immediately get the point (myself included), try reading the thing aloud!
Not to say, a cop-out, an abuse.
Is it just to save time -
No need for a rhyme -
Or a way to be simply obtuse?
But Sir M has excelled in profundity -
So verbose, such sheer serendipity.
One can’t help but admire,
Indeed, hope to aspire
To greater than this little fun ditty.
What o, sir, bring it on. Tally ho, humdinger of prose?
Great again Tony, you should be on 'Not the Nine oclock news.'
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