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What Value Are Poets
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What Value Are Poets |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan 
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. Simple question. Answer it. . |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
You first. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
What value this question? Answer it. |
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Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
Poets are not a value, they are people. |
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oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Hi John -- Last time I checked, poets were valued at $11.39, but that was on Fox News, so I'm not sure about the reliability... Poets are of value in the same way that artists, painters, sculptors, composers, novelists, essayists, and even experimental video freaks are of value. There has been a division between arts and science for the past hundred fifty years or so, but it seems to be an artificial division. Was DaVinci an artist or a scientist; Schroedinger a scientist or a visionary, and on and on. Poets and scientists, and any one else who puts their notions out into the world enhance our understanding of ourselves and our environment. Of course, lousy poets don't enhance it much, and neither do lousy scientists. This theme has come up in a number of your threads, and I think you're trying to get at something on a fundamental level. I'm not sure, though, that it is all that complicated. Best, Jim |
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iliana Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434USA |
Poets create. That is the opposite of destroy. It's a simple matter of the balance in things; doesn't matter if its good or bad really unless one is a "poetry snob." What matters is that there is creation. 'Course, it's nice when that creation is easy on the mind, eyes and ears. [This message has been edited by iliana (11-10-2007 12:13 AM).] |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
I read their poetry. |
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Seeker72 Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 387Oregon USA |
What's the value of tea in china? |
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oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Iliana -- Are you suggesting that all poems are the same in value because they spring from a common impulse to create? Is this not similar to suggesting that all food is good because it is cooked? I don't know... As to "poetry snobbism," that's a dead cat. There is a process of discrimination involved, otherwise, every poem ever written would be published in every anthology ever published. I don't think it works that way. At the same time, there is no reason to discourage anyone from writing poetry. Brad: "I read their poems." A thankless task, but apparently somebody's got to do it.  Jimbeaux |
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oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Seeker: The value of tea in China depends entirely on the variety of tea, with the gorp they send us often unmarketable at home. Best, Jim |
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TomMark Member Elite
since 2007-07-27
Posts 2133LA,CA |
Poets are selected ones who are heavenly bestowed upon of spirit. You can't mention them in earthly terms. One shall have a mouth rainse before enjoy a poem, I said. |
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Seeker72 Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 387Oregon USA |
Actually depends upon the length of time it takes to get it from point A to point B. ;-) |
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rwood Member Elite
since 2000-02-29
Posts 3793Tennessee |
Quite valuable, in that they are people first, wordsmiths second, (which stimulates learning) & they are usually prolific readers (which helps to promote and preserve a skill and an art) & they record (history, occasions, mile stones, celebrations, life, death, or something so simple as a walk in the woods.) Poets (not all) utilize language in a way that transcends simple speech and grammatical construction. They liberate words, freeing them with the many keys that open many doors to more. They should be more valuable to a nation that has fallen to a 4th grade reading level. |
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Seeker72 Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 387Oregon USA |
You can't beat that for a response. |
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aziza Member Elite
since 2006-07-09
Posts 2995Lumpy Oatmeal makes me Crazy! |
I always find it interesting when someone tosses out a question and then sits back to enjoy the responses. It seems a lot like fishing to me. The question is the bobber on the lake and the one asking it is jerking the line now and then. Anyway, how can this question be answered. What determines value? Are we speaking of monetary value? Literary value? Maybe we are talking about Time Management value? Each individual has to make that decision - and each individual will have a different response. After all, isn't that what makes us "individuals"? Personally, I don't see poets as having value. When I think of "value" I think of K-Mart or, better yet, Value Village. I think that poets have courage to attempt to express themselves and share their thoughts with others (if they choose to do so). I think that we our history often dictates our style and content. Does my personal history have value? By sharing it do I have value? Not to anyone but me most likely. Poets are historians. Poets are teachers. Poets are artists. Poets are writers. Poets are Scribes of Time. Poets are picture takers. Without people to share the past, to look into the future, to speak of today, artistically and politically - our societies are destined to fail. Poets are not always "Poets". I have read poetry everywhere. I define what is poetry to me. I am the only one who can determine if a poet has value (to me). And I am wandering off track here because that is how my mind works. I suffer from a syndrom called "WASO" (Words Always Spill Out). Now I ask, do poets need a "value" placed upon them? I think not. Alison |
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