Quote:
If it's prose... it's not poetry. Very simple.
Forms, rhythm, metre, structure, rhyme... off, slant, male, female or pure... this IS poetry. That's what poetry IS.
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If you can take a poem, and turn 20 seperate lines into a paragraph just by hitting backspace/delete, then maybe this is not a poem?
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While I agree on the example you gave, I have to disagree on the generallity.
Let me give a similar example. If you give a work to 100 people and 50 call it prose, pointing out how it's prose - and another 50 call it a poem, pointing to some poetic techniques - what do you call it?
Given, a 50/50 split like that will be rare, but what about a 67/33 split? Are you willing to say that a work with some alliteration and rhyme, and a strong rhythm, but is none-the-less considered prose by most people is not poetic?
To me, there are many poetic tools. The more they are used in the work, the more poetic it is. But there isn't some magic threshold that we cross over - ie "one more rhyme and it would be a poem, but right now it's prose", "with the addition of that word 60% of your work is now in Iambic meter, so it's no longer prose - it's poetry."
-Frank
