TO THESE PAGES ON POETIC PROSODY: METER AND FORM

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as a forbidding topic and hesitate to enter into its precincts. But all poets whose work continues to attract readers, including those who write mainly or exclusively in free verse, possess a deep understanding of the rhythmical qualities of language. For the most part, they acquire this understanding by immersing themselves in the poetry written in their own tongue (frequently in others as well) and working in that medium, just as great musicians, dancers, athletes, or scientists gain their proficiency by active engagement with their own disciplines. The study of meter and form for its own sake cannot make anyone into a poet, especially when the application of formal principles is mechanical and inept . Poetic metrics is among the more sterile and useless of human enterprises when pursued to unreasonable lengths. Also, an insistence that poets conform to supposed rules of poetic composition can do as much harm to poetry as a determination to write with no pattern or purpose whatever. To say this, however, is not to embrace the deliberate indeterminism of L=A-N=G=U=A=G=E poetry. A healthy and intelligent interest in--even a fascination with--the formal properties of poetry often can be found in company with genuine talent and enduring achievement. And the greatest poets have always been the greatest technical innovators, even when they give no evidence of having rationalized their inventiveness into (or from) abstract patterns. A spirit of rhythmic and structural experimentation always  informs good poetry. The purpose of these pages is to encourage that kind of experimentation.

12/11/01
 
 
 
 

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