Thoughts on poetry – listening vs. reading and ‘meaning’
Friday, 21 Jan 2011, 14:02
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‘Poetry, like music, is to be heard…Prose exists to convey meaning, and no meaning such as prose conveys can be expressed as well in poetry. That is not poetry’s business.’ – Basil Bunting* –
The ‘Today’ programme on Radio 4 has, every morning this week, been featuring readings (by the poets) of the poems which have been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot prize.
I’ve been enjoying these, but I find it infuriating to hear a poem then and not be able to read it. I need to see poetry written down to feel I’ve experienced it and can more fully understand it. I don’t deny the importance of the sounds, the rhythm and so on, and often do read poetry out loud to myself – but to only hear it seems too fleeting, like catching a glimpse of something you can’t then lay your hands on.
It seems true to me that the meaning which is expressed in a poem is different to the meaning of a piece of prose. If prose is a flower, then poetry is the essential oil which has been distilled from the petals: concentrated and potent. A good poem is an experience, it impresses itself on us – it is what it is and it can’t be reduced or summarised without detracting from its meaning and effect. Perhaps this is what Archibald MacLeish* means when he says:
‘A poem should not mean
But be.’
It is meaning and form combined which make the irreducible poem, but, in my opinion at least, it is still meaning, and meaning – or at the very least conveying - is very much a part of poetry even if the meaning is something that cannot be fully articulated, only felt.
Thoughts on poetry – listening vs. reading and ‘meaning’
‘Poetry, like music, is to be heard…Prose exists to convey meaning, and no meaning such as prose conveys can be expressed as well in poetry. That is not poetry’s business.’ – Basil Bunting* –
The ‘Today’ programme on Radio 4 has, every morning this week, been featuring readings (by the poets) of the poems which have been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot prize.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9361000/9361532.stm
I’ve been enjoying these, but I find it infuriating to hear a poem then and not be able to read it. I need to see poetry written down to feel I’ve experienced it and can more fully understand it. I don’t deny the importance of the sounds, the rhythm and so on, and often do read poetry out loud to myself – but to only hear it seems too fleeting, like catching a glimpse of something you can’t then lay your hands on.
It seems true to me that the meaning which is expressed in a poem is different to the meaning of a piece of prose. If prose is a flower, then poetry is the essential oil which has been distilled from the petals: concentrated and potent. A good poem is an experience, it impresses itself on us – it is what it is and it can’t be reduced or summarised without detracting from its meaning and effect. Perhaps this is what Archibald MacLeish* means when he says:
‘A poem should not mean
But be.’
It is meaning and form combined which make the irreducible poem, but, in my opinion at least, it is still meaning, and meaning – or at the very least conveying - is very much a part of poetry even if the meaning is something that cannot be fully articulated, only felt.
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*quoted in the Introduction to Staying Alive: real poems for unreal times ed. Neil Astley
* source as above