sri kanaka prasad wrote:
>To use Rama's word, the Gestalt
>of a good poem is certainly much different and can be much more than the
>literal meaning that is seldom wholly, some times partly, and some times not
>at all communicated.
why is this the case? i can understand that there may be
feelings/thoughts/themes/.. that are difficult to convey and the poet can
only give some kind of hints to the readers as to what her thoughts are.
but such feelings (the tough ones) should not be the majority of what the
multitude of poets are trying to communicate to the rest of the world and
that's where i have trouble understanding why a good poem is seldom
understood wholly. are these poets so bad at communication? (actually the
next para offers some possible explanation - to me). also, if only a select
few understand the poem correctly (that is, wholly), what is a standard way
of deciding what is a good poem? does a person sleeping in an otherwise
empty house snore?
>In fact, apart from the message, it is the mystic
>around a poem, that enriches it. How else would you explain the joy of
>reading Auden, Dylan Thomas or Houseman! Take out the veil of opacity, and
>what you have is a drab pulp of poetry that is 'sent across' very well, its
>'noble social message' and what have you, but looses its charm nevertheless.
could a poem devoid of any mystique be still very interesting (and not drab;
and not to say, "less aspashTaMgaa") because the poet is presenting an angle
hitherto unknown? or the way he presents it or any of thousand different
things he could be excelling in? in my humble opinion, "adding
mystique" to what one is writing (i am unable to interpret this as anything
other than "making it less clear") can only add snob appeal to it. (it is
likely that i haven't understood this "mystic around a poem" correctly, and
i request to be corrected.) also, may i conjecture that the way a "good
poem" is defined, one of its important features is this veil of opacity and
that's the reason good poems are seldom wholly understood?
> In Telugu, Ajantha, Tripura and Mohan Prasad are accused of writing
>'aspashta kavitwam'. Oneway how their work is defended is to say that life
>itself is complex, even absurd, and to honestly communicate the drama that
>goes on in our heads is to acknowledge the complexity and coin a language
>to- I must use the word- communicate it.
if i understand this correctly, their work is interpreted is as mapping one
type of complexity (that of life) to another type (the "_aspashTata_ of
their poetry)? (i am glad to have read this post because so far whenever i
didn't understand a piece of poetry i used to think i was seriously
deficient in something. now i am beginning to feel that my deficiency is not
as serious as i used to imagine. )
>In poetry, personal experience is the only authentic
>experience. Personal observation is the only authentic observation, so most
>of the good poetry is either statedly or in disguise an autobiography.
in my opinion, this is also true of other forms of literature.
> One school of thinkers who object to the above are socially
>committed, who believe that poetry must be a direct instrument for social
>change.
i think clarity and total communication should be demanded even when poetry
is not a social instrument. anubhootulni vyaktam cEyaDaaniki aspashTata
saadhanam kaanavasaram lEdu.
>Kanaka Prasad
>
as a compensation for reading this far, i present a poem from my friend
VinnakOTa Ravishankar's poem. it's the title poem from his first published
collection. the type of poems i can understand and like.
kunDeelO marriceTTu
===================
ninDaina deeni jeevitaanni
evarO apaharincaaru.
deeni balaanni, baahuvulni,
vELLani, vaiSaalyaanni,
ningini aTakaayincE nirbhayatvaanni,
evarO
nirdayagaa, nemmadigaa,
aMdaMgaa apaharincaaru.
gaali sammeTaltO baadinaa
cekku cedarani deeni sthairyaanni,
vEli kosala taakiDiki
tala vancE vinayaMgaa maarcaaru.
ikkaDee jeevitamE
aMdaMgaa, aakarshaNeeyaMgaa unTuMdani
amaayakaMgaa daanni nammincaaru.
paccadanamtO,
repa repa laaDE java sattvaalatO,
vaMda yOjanaalu,
vEyi prayOjanaalugaa
vistarinca valasina deeni jeevita saamraajyaanni,
kunDeelO,
renDu piDikiLLa mannulO,
neeTikai vedukaaDE kaLLa lOki
kudincaaru.
ninDaina deeni jeevitaanni
evarO apaharincaaru.
regards,
-rao