llfe@hound.UUCP (L.FENG) (02/19/85)
I would like to start some discussion on "what constitutes a good poem." There are a number of things that have to be defined before we can start talking about poems, but I think that this can lead to an interesting discussion. First, we need to define good. Therefore, in English poetry, Questions: 1) what is the purpose of a poem? Is it social comment? Is it self expression? Is it a literary exercise? Is it something else? Is it a combination of things? If so, what? 2) what are the various forms of poetry? What are the various rules (meter, rhyme, alliteration) for the forms? Is there a "free" form with NO rules? Does it matter? 3) from the above, can we determine a set of rules that defines "good poetry," realizing that there will always be poetry that is good that falls outside of our rules? What other questions can we ask? -- From the lunch hour of hound!llfe.