the topic is topics

[Dichroic]

I'm bored. Time to start a new topic of discussion.

How about ... are there topics that are intrinsically better suited to poetry than to prose? Love? Death? Time? Joy? Angst? Are there ideas that can more clearly be conveyed through the nuances of poetry than by explaining them straight out?

[tdidar]

i don't think it's the topic. i think that it depends more on the reader and the writer.

with poetry, it seems like it's easier to get away with leaving holes for the reader to fill in with his own experience. like in one of the poems in the critique forum -- ddgryphon's "fire and ice" (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112677) -- the second stanza really hit me because of my own experience. but say someone writes a poem about being an ax-murderer -- i can't see myself getting into it in quite the same way if they left the same opening for me.

in fiction, though, there -have- been stories where i sort of get into the head of a crazy person. sometimes i get in very deeply. i think the best stories will let anyone in, regardless of their experiences.

should poetry do the same thing? i thought 'not necessarily' at first, but now i'm not so sure. the one i linked above is good for me; is there enough there to relate the experience for someone else? probably not in the same way it hit me. if there -was- enough to make it completely universal, would it still speak to me the way it does? i doubt it, but i really don't know..

how does the prose poem play into this?

i don't mean to derail. sorry for rambling!

[i spy]

I'm bored. Time to start a new topic of discussion.

How about ... are there topics that are intrinsically better suited to poetry than to prose? Love? Death? Time? Joy? Angst? Are there ideas that can more clearly be conveyed through the nuances of poetry than by explaining them straight out?

no and no.

[Norman D Gutter]

Dicrhoic:

I'd ask the question the other way: Are there topics that are intrinsically better suited to prose than to poetry?

As we discussed before, I think the answer to that question is yes. Conveying complex scientific principles when the purpose is education is better achieved with prose. That would probably include complex medical information as well. I doubt an autopsy report could be well done in poetry, nor one of the medical journals. Nor scientific or engineering journals. And, the subjects all these journals cover, while they can be the subject of a poem, I don't think they can if if the purpose of education or information. Maybe for entertainment.

I see poetry as wide open for almost any topic if the purpose is entertainment.

NDG

[kdnxdr]

I think Neurofizz has done an excellent job of writing interesting poetry with complex scientifc principles/information.

Kudos to Neurofizz!

kid