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Rancher

Rancher

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Hi again Nguy4. If you'll recall, we had a discussion about the merit of free verse poetry two years ago on this thread. I've grown up a bit since then and wanted to tell you that I now realize you were right. Or maybe no side of the argument is objectively "right," and I just switched sides.

I think the main things I was getting at, and that I still believe, are that (1) rhymed meter sounds pretty, and (2) creating rhymed verse takes effort.

From (1) it follows that most people, myself included, will have a penchant for rhymed verse and will only appreciate free verse poems that are extremely, exceptionally profound and well-written. Yet from (2) it follows that free verse poems are more easily produced than rhymed verse, which causes there to exist a greater proportion of poor free verse poetry than poor rhymed verse solely because less talented poets gravitate toward free verse. That shouldn't be taken to mean that free verse poetry is inferior; rather, the genre just has a higher proportion of inferior poets. Similarly, Java is not an inferior language to Objective C, but the latter is more difficult to master, so Apple apps are often coded by more skilled coders than Android apps, and so Android apps tend to be of lower of quality.

01-Sep-2013 00:16:25

Rancher

Rancher

Posts: 4,294 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Even the assertion that free verse poets are more often inferior may show my lingering biases, but that opinion is consistent with my view across many genres. The genius in "Fountain" was Duchamp's bold and revolutionary idea ; a ****** itself is not of great artistic value. The "bold" artists specializing in found art today are not really bold at all; they simply rehash an old idea. So I tend to agree with critics who denounce Hirst's "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living." With their response "A Dead Shark Isn't Art," stuckists asked: "If Hirst’s shark is recognised as great art, then how come Eddie's, which was on exhibition for two years beforehand, isn't? Do we perhaps have here an undiscovered artist of genius, who got there first, or is it that a dead shark isn't art at all?"

I use this example to point out that some artists, even ones recognized and widely revered, pass off ordinary as works as extraordinary ones simply because they have subscribed to a genre the public finds to be "edgy." In reality, comparatively unknown artists are producing very similar works, and often the artwork on the pedestal is no better than those trod on below it. Lately the modern art scene has focused heavily on marketing, the business of making ordinary things seem extraordinary because it can be profitable to do so. Today's poetry scene seems to be in an analogous state.

My first post on this thread complimented your story, yet I think my message was drowned by my tangential argumentative ignorance. I should have stressed your brilliance more strongly, and the fact that I liked your story and wanted it to be a free verse poem should be taken as a very high compliment. I remember searching various lines from your work because I thought it must have been taken from somewhere, only to find that your phrases here are alone on the internet. I strongly recommend that you publish the story.

01-Sep-2013 00:35:43

Rancher

Rancher

Posts: 4,294 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Finally, I want to let you know a little bit about me. Too often I find myself in internet discussions where my conversation partner is a faceless, one-dimensional voice; and too often to I present myself in that same way. I think a lot of the time we forget that we're all real people. I obviously wasn't profoundly aware of your personhood when I posted here two years ago. For that I am sorry.

So, me: I'm a seventeen-year-old high school senior, although I've taken classes at a state university plus 9 AP classes. Within a month of my first posts on this thread, I moved out of my home with an alcoholic parent and in with my grandparents. My grandmother has since passed away and my grandfather, whom I live with now, constantly reminds me that atheists like me need to purchase asbestos suits and fire extinguishers. I live in the Bible Belt and take a lot of flak for my lack of beliefs. I learn new things and write new things to keep myself happy. I'm going to college next year and I'm so happy for that. I want to major in English and write books and poetry for a living. Except I probably will switch majors and go into a paying job or career field that I only somewhat enjoy while I write books that will never sell. I guess I'm okay with that because, just by being alive, I'm an extraordinarily lucky collection of atoms. And it also happens that I'm a human , which makes me luckier, and I live comfortably in the northern hemisphere, which makes me luckier still. I live in America, to be specific.

Feel free to talk about yourself as well. I'd like it, actually. You're obviously a very interesting and unordinary person, so I would be grateful to understand you as a person and not as paragraphs of text. :)

01-Sep-2013 00:52:24

Nguy4

Nguy4

Posts: 9,366 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Rancher, thanks for the such a genuine and thoughtful response! It will take me some time to respond to you, but I plan to do so!

But I do like this idea that we're having a conversation, but our replies takes 2 years LOL.

10-Jan-2015 12:02:27

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