Poetry's Inadequacy

[e_dog]

Expression of prior emotions or experiences is a means for artistic creation, but the goal is not expression in itself and for itself. The goal is provocation -- eliciting responses, sometime predictable, often unpredictable -- of an emotional or affective sort, in other people, the readers. This can be accomplished through artiface, embellishment, or plain affectation, as in the example mentioned above of someone penning a poem for some occasion, for pay. Or it can be genuine expression. The goal can be accomplished through the audience attaining a state that resembles the author, or one that satisfies the authors intent whether or not shared by the author, or, in more complex poetry or that which is addressed to a sophisticated audience, a poem can be effective even where the responses generated are unknown or unknowable in advance or even contrary to the artist's own expectations.

[hester_prynne]

Wow. This is a fantastic thread...for me anyway....scintillating discussion, (I must confess my mind is starved).
Appreciate the feeding.

Makes me daydream about reading flowery poetry outloud to scientists and econ majors.

now there's an equation for ya.
heh
H