By: A.B. Timothy
Yesterday, I discussed the need for an Objective Authority in the fields of debates and arguments. Today, I will discuss, in a similar vein, the need for objectivity in more creative fields.
In college, I was tasked with a poetry assignment in what they called “Free Verse.” My teacher recognized that the idea of a lack of methodology annoyed me, and told me that this would be good for my creative journey. I did it, I did as I was told. Now, two years later, I’ll agree with that teacher; it was good for my creative journey. Because if I had not been forced to participate in such a horrid act of literary chaos, I might never have come to hate it as much as I do.
These days, when I see a poem in free verse, I will usually skip it, or I will groan before reading it anyway. I still have to know what people are saying after all. Even if I don’t want to read it. This is why you will never find a poem of mine without a structure.
Does that mean the structure must be “ABABCDCD?” No! Absolutely not. But if there is no visible structure or comprehensible idea that acts as the flow from one point to the next, I don’t want to read it! At that point, I can go read the First Book of The Fellowship of the Ring for flowery prose.
I’ll use my own work from The Shards of Arthur’s Shield as an example. Below is the Poem, “Arthur’s Call”
“Arthur, king of the West,
Arthur, king, laid to rest.
Arise, lord of the morning,
Arise, the World is calling.
Your sword awaits,
Your Shield Abaits.
Arise, the World is calling,
Arise, lord of the morning.
Arthur, king, laid to rest,
Arthur, King of the West.”
It does rhyme, true, but the Latin form you will find in my book does not. This, however, still works as poetry because it has structure. The work is a mirror like a lake’s calm surface, broken by the two items of power, the sword and the shield. There is more to it than just what is being read.
When we start to lose objective standards in poetic literature, we begin to lose culture, and I would hate to see that happen.
Next time you get asked to write a poem or next time you feel inspired to write a poetic scene, remember to look past the surface and give it a greater meaning.
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