Recently I posted William Carlos Williams’ poem about the red wheelbarrow and various quotes about what makes poetry poetry (HERE).
@grayman (on Counter Social) responded, “My second year of college, one of my instructors stated: ‘What makes a poem a poem? The poet says it is a poem.’”
LOL – that reminded me of a discussion I participated in from a college class on poetry, what makes a poem a poem, individual interpretations of poems, etc.
We examined and discussed this poem:
There’s a bug on the rug –
Smack him dead.
Smack him dead.
There’s a bug on the rug –
Smack him dead.
You would not have believed the wild interpretations we ended up with after we considered (mostly tongue in cheek) who “the bug” represented; what did “the rug” symbolize; the suggestion that “smack” was an allusion to dangerous drugs – and the effect of addiction in society – and who was responsible for ever increasing overdoses, etc.
It definitely brought home the point that when reading (or hearing or viewing) a creative work, “you see what you see” based on your own knowledge, understandings, and experiences as your brain attempts to make sense of it all – AND – if you determine a work is nonsense (like E. E. Cummings’ “l(a”) or meaningless (like WCW’s “so much depends”), then you’re likely to regard the work as nonsense or meaningless without putting much time or effort into exploring what was the purpose of the poet (or artist or composer).
It’s easy to laugh off, discount, and brush aside works we don’t understand.
My wife and I recently visited the Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York. Take a look at these works presented in some of their galleries (click the images to enlarge).
@grayman (on Counter Social) responded, “My second year of college, one of my instructors stated: ‘What makes a poem a poem? The poet says it is a poem.’”
LOL – that reminded me of a discussion I participated in from a college class on poetry, what makes a poem a poem, individual interpretations of poems, etc.
We examined and discussed this poem:
There’s a bug on the rug –
Smack him dead.
Smack him dead.
There’s a bug on the rug –
Smack him dead.
You would not have believed the wild interpretations we ended up with after we considered (mostly tongue in cheek) who “the bug” represented; what did “the rug” symbolize; the suggestion that “smack” was an allusion to dangerous drugs – and the effect of addiction in society – and who was responsible for ever increasing overdoses, etc.
It definitely brought home the point that when reading (or hearing or viewing) a creative work, “you see what you see” based on your own knowledge, understandings, and experiences as your brain attempts to make sense of it all – AND – if you determine a work is nonsense (like E. E. Cummings’ “l(a”) or meaningless (like WCW’s “so much depends”), then you’re likely to regard the work as nonsense or meaningless without putting much time or effort into exploring what was the purpose of the poet (or artist or composer).
It’s easy to laugh off, discount, and brush aside works we don’t understand.
My wife and I recently visited the Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York. Take a look at these works presented in some of their galleries (click the images to enlarge).
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These three pics are from the same work of art:
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What are your initial thoughts?
I’ll post info about these works tomorrow – and a poem by E. E. Cummings.
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