Dear SunWinkers:

There are two ways of classifying poems: One is by form: haiku, sonnet, villanelle, quatrain, rubaiyat, cubist, concrete, etc. The other is by purpose: elegy, ode, pastoral, epic, love poem, etc. One of the latter is, I suppose, inevitable: sooner or later, a dedicated poet of any accomplishment will feel the impulse to write about the poetic process, what a poem is, or what it should be. Such a poem is referred to as an ars poetica, which is Latin for “the art of poetry.” Possibly the most famous is Archibald MacLeish’s “Ars Poetica” :

(…)
A poem should be equal to:
Not true.

For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.

For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea—

 A poem should not mean
But be.

 

One of my favorites is “Eating Poetry”, from Mark Strand’s first volume of poetry, Keeping Things Whole:

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.
(…)

 

A beautiful ars poetica to which I relate strongly is “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman. He may not have been thinking about poetry per se, he may have been thinking more generally about the existential or metaphysical, but the poem does speak of making connections, which is what a poet does, and it eloquently describes me when I am casting about for ideas.

I leave it to you to explore these other examples:

“Ars Poetica” by Paul Verlaine

“Ars Poetica” by Dorthea Lasky

“Constantly Risking Absurdity” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“What You Should Know To Be A Poet” by Gary Snyder

I will post two or three of my own ars poetica later in the week and link to them from here in some fashion. Follow this article or blog so you don’t miss them.

For further study:

Read the article: “Ars Poetica: Poems About Poetry” at Poets.org and search for “ars poetica” at PoetryFoundation.org

The Prompt

In poetry or prose, write your own Ars Poetica.

Alternate Prompt

Choose one of the above examples and answer the following questions:

• What makes this an ars poetica?
• What is the poet describing: the poetic process, the impulse to write poetry, what constitutes good poetry, finding (or failing to find) inspiration, or…?
• What techniques does the poet use to make her point?
• If there’s a primary metaphor here, what is it and how does it relate to or correspond with the poet’s thesis?

 

Post your response on your blog. If it’s a WordPress blog, tag it WeSun. Or put it in a Note on Facebook or some such functionality, something you can link to.

Then comment to this post with the link to your response.

I reblog this at WritingEssentialGroup.com (you should be following that blog, too) and will link to your responses there. I will also comment on all responses.

Love,

Doug

© 2014 Douglas J. Westberg.