Good to have *some* response from the group. As I kept on saying, if I want
meanings of the words I go to a dictionary; if I want the poesy, I goto
people.
You are right; a successful poet is the one who precisely conveys what he
wants; one that uses words to evoke the feelings he intended; the smells he
felt. Words being such limited digital means to express an analog world,
writing itself is a futile task, going by the writer's perspective.
Question is: what if the author fails? Is it any loss to the reader? If the
author scribbled some greek and I read and understand E=mc^2, am I not the
beneficiary?
Again the fallacy seems to be that poet is the only one who writes a
particular piece of poetry. No, it is several other people who "write" it
later. By the time it reaches you, the reader, it acquires lot of baggage by
the virtue of "living" so long in the society.
> If the reader reads into the poem, more than what the poet has
> intended the poem to convey, then we have a big problem. In a sense,
> that is what we have been witnessing with some interpretations of run
> of the mill verses. If the interpretations tend to be more than the
> so-called 'gestalt' of the poem, aren't we trekking on dangerous
> grounds?
In deed, we are. It is difficult to relate to writing. (Or communication, for
thar matter). And, to make it more complicated heap these misunderstandings!!
At the cost of doing disservice to the writer, the reader can be
beneficiary. But what does the writer get?
> Let us look at the following 'poem.'
>
> tE.gee. reMDu kaakulu koorcuMDe baMDa meeda;
> oM Degiri pOye; aMta aMdoMDu migile
> reMDavadi pOye; pidapa aMdoMDu lEdu
> baMDa maatramu paapa maMduMDi pOye!
>
Sadly, for the me the meaning of this poem is a strict sum of the meaning of
the words :-)!! OTOH, I am a kludze when it comes to heenayana tenets!
> For whatever it is worth, let us try to get the 'gestalt' of
> the poem! Come on! Ramarao gaaroo! Be a sport!!
>
> I will later reveal the author, the context, the intent etc.
> Regards.
> -- Venkateswara Rao Veluri
--rama
PS: I am quite uneasy about the argument I make. If poetry is not for
communication, what is it for? Please feel free to pick holes in my argument.