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Defining Poetry is Like Grasping at the Wind

Richard M. Deets

Defining poetry is like the child grasping at the wind; even the child knows that caught wind is not wind at all. Likewise, definitions of poetry seem to raise more questions than consensus as we witness in three contrasting viewpoints in current poetry circles.

  • The Traditionalist would argue that a poem is an expression of a vision of emotive value presented in a form that is intelligible as well as pleasurable to others.
  • The Modernist views poetry as an autonomous object that may or may not represent the real world, created in language made distinctive by its complex web of references.
  • The Postmodernist looks on poems as collages of self-contained current idioms that are intriguing; yet, refer to nothing beyond the idioms themselves.

While poetry as an act of discovery is incredibly diverse and shirks definitions and labels, poets, other than the postmodernist, view poetry as an art form. Like other art forms, a well-written poem is a vague apprehension representing something of the human condition in a contemporary world.

Furthermore, poetry expresses or evokes emotion or fresh ideas, pleases us by its form, and stands on its own as an autonomous and self-defining entity. A good poem, unlike an amateur's work, transcends mere words. The poem, as an intangible, emerges out of its own unique form, created in the style, preoccupations and shared beliefs common to its period.

According to poetry scholars and academians, writing that fails to explore the nature and topography of the human condition or is completely understood and easily paraphrased is not a poem, but simply versified or emotional prose. The argument is not that good poetry needs to be overly challenging or that amateurs write in antiquated forms, it is that, unlike good poetry or "great poetry", amateur poetry happens upon its conceptions too quickly.

While we may debate, what our society generally accepts as "great poetry", such poetry sets itself apart by its complexity and sophistication. "Great poetry" generally captures images vividly in an original, fresh manner, while weaving together an intricate combination of elements like theme tension, complex emotion, and profound reflective thought.

Poetry rewards a lot of reading and reflective thought. All writers, of all forms, recognize that the study of poetry teaches the possibilities of words, their music, rhythm, sound, the intensity and compression of language, as well as an appreciation of a wide range of work.

Like the child who discovers wind, if we really want to know what poetry is, we will read it. Read a poem slowly, read it carefully attending to every detail. Read it aloud; then, read it again. Through our study, each of us will develop our own unique definition of poetry as well as our own distinct voice, which will be apparent to our fellow poets who evaluate the poetry we submit.

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