 Poetry: April 02, 2008 Issue [#2316] |
  Poetry
This week: Edited by: Red Writing Hood <3  
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There exists only three beings worthy of respect: the priest, the soldier, the poet. To know, to kill to create.
Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1967)
Poetry should please by a fine excess and not by singularity. It should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost as a remembrance.
John Keats (1795 - 1821)
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Didactic Poetry
Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November;
February has twenty eight alone
All the rest have thirty-one
Except in Leap Year, that's the time
When February's Days are twenty-nine
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/thirty_days_hath_september.htm
~*~
Direct from the dictionary, didactic poetry is “intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment” (Merriam-Webster).
This editorial will not debate whether or not didactic poetry is good or bad poetry. This editorial will simply inform you about the history, and what makes a poem didactic. In the “of note” section I will talk briefly about when a person might choose to create a didactic poem. I will step foot into the debate room, but run back out again as fast as I can.
BRIEF HISTORY
Didactic poetry can be traced to ancient Greece and a couple of the most famous didactic poems are “Phenomena” by Aratus, a Greek, and “de rerum natura” by the Roman, Lucretius (Encyclopedia Britannica).
MUST HAVES
***Must teach something in some way. Whether it’s subtle, or obvious; whether it’s academic or preachy; whether it’s about how to feed parakeets or knitting baby booties; whether it’s teaching a moral or math formulas – it must teach to be considered didactic.
COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?
***Rhyme or not – although, most do because rhyme is a memory tool. Memory tools are important when you are trying to teach a topic. (Remember “i” before “e” except after “c”)
***Form – the first ones were epics, but it is not required you choose that form.
***Format – if you don’t choose a specific form, how you format your poem is up to you.
***Meter – if the form you choose doesn’t have a specific meter, then choose to use it or not – and, if chosen, what type of meter you use is also up to you.
***Length – if the form you choose doesn’t have a specific line length, then make it short or long – it’s up to you.
OF NOTE
So when would a poet choose to create a didactic poem? Simply, it is when the poet wants to teach his reader. Here is where poets should think carefully about how they want to go about teaching through poetry. While I won't agree or disagree with Dr. Salemi’s views in his essay, “The Curse of Didactic Verse,” he makes a valid point: “Nobody likes being told what to do or how to think or how to live and how to react” (Salemi).
So, is subtly the best option? Only you can choose the best way to present your poetry. Learn as much as you can; read as much as you can; and write as much as you can. As long as you are putting your best work out there, don’t let the Dr. Salemis of the world tell you that you are cursing the earth because you chose to write something didactic.
~*~
A translated version of Lucretius’ “de rerum natura” can be found here: http://classics.mit.edu/Carus/nature_things.html
SOURCE NOTES:
Encyclopedia Britannica . DIDACTIC POETRY - Online Encyclopedia - Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 204 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. <http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/DEM_DIO/DIDACTIC_POETRY.html>
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 31 Mar 2008 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/didactic>.
Salemi, Dr. Joseph S. "The Curse of Didactic Verse." Expansive Poetry & Music Online. July 2007. 31 Mar 2008 <https://www.n2hos.com/acm/cult062002.html>.
If you are interested in the didactic debate, here are links to rebuttals of Dr. Salemi’s point of view:
http://www.n2hos.com/acm/darlingsalem.html
http://www.pointandcircumference.com/macropoetics/purdy.htm
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Theme: Didactic Poetry
The last poem is bad on purpose - rating it a one star is a good thing 
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Have a question, answer, problem, solution, tip, trick, cheer, jeer, or extra million lying around?
If so, send it through the feedback section at the bottom of this newsletter OR click the little envelope next to my name Red Writing Hood <3 and send it through email.
Comments on last month's newsletter:
Submitted By: Rahul Ghosh 
Submitted Comment:
This is a very good newsletter. Thanks for all the items you have given to us.
Submitted By: mrstyx
Submitted Item: "Invalid Item"
Submitted Comment:
I'm working on the third installment of Collaborations now. This is the second version.
Kind of fits the "found poetry" topic, it would seem I'm one step behind you again Red Writing Hood. Here's the original: "Invalid Item"
Submitted By: Starr* Rathburn
Submitted Item: "Invalid Item"
Submitted Comment:
This is a wonderful poem. Puts me in mind of one of my favorite writers, Robert Frost. Please consider this for one of your newsletters. (I don't know this person--it's the 1st time I've visited her port. But I love this poem, so I thought I'd offer it.) Cordially, Starr*R
Submitted By: A thinker never sleeps
Submitted Comment:
Another thought-provoking newsletter. Poetry based on courtroom trials. It's a good idea. I found a lot of great lines from a documentary about the kamikaze and jotted them down for interest. One was `expecting the dawn raids of the enemy'.
Submitted By: alfred booth, wanbli ska
Submitted Comment:
An excellent informative newsletter this week. The "found" poetry was a style I already knew about and have written. "First line poetry" sounds so exciting that I'll start writing today. I've been wondering how to create successful abstract poetry, for example, and I think that this could be a way of doing so. The examples you chose to highlight this form were all very interesting.
Submitted By: monty31802
Submitted Comment:
Good job, I think most of us learned from this Newsletter. ~Monty
Submitted By: katherine76
Submitted Comment:
A really great newsletter this week, very high standards as we have all come to enjoy 
Submitted By: GYPSYROSE- Grateful 2 WDC
Submitted Comment:
Red Writing Hood,
This is the best newsletter that I have read since joining WDC almost two months ago! I know it's too late, but I had to try the cheese poem.
"CHEESE
SCRUMPTIOUS
DELICIOUS
Diet Forbids it
High in Cholesterol
I dream of it all the time
ONLY MEMORY REMAINS!"
gypsyrose
Keep up the good work on the newsletter! Next I will try the cento.
Thank you all for the wonderful comments. They keep me motivated!
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