tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052308.post1456316759000471264..comments2024-01-24T06:50:01.683-06:00Comments on Samizdat Blog: Poetry/Not PoetryArchambeauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17273511539172747550noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052308.post-25881250010865036932009-12-31T14:04:48.523-06:002009-12-31T14:04:48.523-06:00I agree about that definitions shift -- I mean, I ...I agree about that definitions shift -- I mean, I think I said something above about how the way to approach the question wasn't to look for a transhistorical truth, but to look at the history of how people have made definitions, and then to look at why they did what they did. And of course it isn't just the definition of poetry that shifts, but the practice. So I'm with you there.<br /><br />That said, I'd hesitate to make a big statement about what Nemerov was and wasn't interested in thinking about. In the one small instance I look at, he takes the position that definitions are tricky, and that it's hard to draw a line. I'm not sure this represents the sum of his thinking on the matter.<br /><br />BobArchambeauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17273511539172747550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052308.post-57957693639433590382009-12-28T19:24:45.163-06:002009-12-28T19:24:45.163-06:00The problem with defining poetry--is that it's...The problem with defining poetry--is that it's not a thing unto itself, but a shifting and complex set of interacting agents and objects: put simply, as a cultural artifact, it includes readers, poets, sets of linguistic conventions--so it's not an evasion to say that a poem is any sort of arrangement of the elements of language used in a way which readers and poets agree is poetry. "Poetry" is not fixed then, but is continually mutating and adapting within the cultures where it's being made. <br /><br />Nemorov isn't just evasive, he's not interested in the thinking about the question in a way that makes sense.Jacob Russellhttp://www.jacobrussellsbarkingdog.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com