@mister kitten,
mister kitten wrote:
Fido wrote:
If you were a philosopher you would know that you cannot define an infinite... I have offered an opinion as to essential elements and what poems is not... Other than that; you are on your own... Pick a style or make your own, copy or floppy... Your choice... I think if it is worth doing it may have already been done... So what can you add in the way of frosting...
Thank you, Fido.
I think my friend answered best when he said
"pretty lines"
Lines, whether straight or curved, are infinite too; never pretty, always to the point.
@Ticomaya,
Yes, Gargamel, exactly: "pretty lines" is all...the rest is gravy
"I know good art when I see it."
Whether there is an "essence" of poetry, don't we mostly rely on our own experiences with poetry to define what it is for each of us? We know the definition (we know all sorts of definitions, of course), and can in most cases, distinguish poetry from prose; but if we search for its essence, are we, to quote Tennyson from memory, not "wandering after fires, lost in a quagmire"?
