How cool would it be if the plural of sausage was sausagi?
"Although the American poet Robert Frost famously dismissed writing in free verse as analogous to 'playing tennis with the net down,' and critics have occasionally called for a return to metrics, free verse has become the most frequent poetic form in modern English poetry."
Free verse is exactly like playing tennis with the net down, because you make up your own rules, it's too easy, it doesn't make any sense, and you're wearing short shorts and a headband.
What happened to all those poetry rules?
Was the poetry guy like, "You know all those rules I made about writing words and stuff... well...uhhhh... we're not going to use those anymore. But what the heck, we'll call it poetry anyway..."?
I don't like playing games Mr. Poetry Rules Guy, you make your rules apply to everything, or nothing!
Comments
I have to wonder if much of free verse is actually a style that has yet to be discovered. I mean, yes, a lot of people do it just to be lazy, but many other, serious poets work just as hard on free verse as on other styles. Harder, perhaps, since they have nothing to go on. Think o it this way; in math class, you're always told to follow formulas. But who came up with those formulas? Obviously someone had to work very hard without using the formula to create something that became a formula. Free verse is very similar. There are thousands of rules for different kinds and styles of poems, but originally someone had to go against those rules to make new rules. Am I making any sense? Since creativity is so highly valued in poetry it would be impossible for every poet to express that creativity inside of rules. They need to make up their own, but that doesn't mean they don't understand the old rules.
I'm sorry. I'm babbling, aren't I? I hope this helps.
(Oh, along with your title, it would be as cool as the plural for doofus being doofii.)
Posted by: HallieGeary | March 12, 2007 9:22 PM