Sherry Chandler » No such thing as formless poetry
No such thing as formless poetry
From Paul Fussell, Poetic Meter & Poetic Form (Random House, 1965)
The principle is that every technical gesture in a poem must justify itself in meaning. Which is to say that the free-verse writer can proclaim, with Ammons, that he is “released from form,” but he’d better not be. In free verse the abandonment of capital letters and punctuation must say something consonant with what the predications in the poem are saying. The sudden shortening of a line must say something. The degree of line-integrity or enjambment must refract the rhetorical status of the poem’s address. And any momentary deviation into meter must validate itself, must appear not a lapse but a significant bold stroke. [pp. 88 -89]
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2 Comments
1. Andrea replies at 7th July 2008, 4:03 pm :
Thanks for the quotes on form in poetry. Is this a book you’d recommend?
2. sherry replies at 7th July 2008, 4:28 pm :
The Fussell is considered a classic, Andrea, and as such it is certainly worth looking into, but a lot of poetry has been written in the 40 years since it was published and formalism has gone through some sea changes. So I might dare to call it a little dated, a little stodgy.
I have an extra copy. It shows up at the Friend’s Book Cellar from time to time. I’ll be glad to give it to you.
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