Introduction
Conrad
DiDiodato, CA
In
his “Introduction” to Paul Valery’s The Art
of Poetry, T.S. Eliot emphasizes the
importance of Valery’s injunction to poets that
they do a lot of preparatory work in strict
“stanza forms”: “It is only by practicing the
sonnet, the sestina, or the villanelle, that we
learn what sort of content can not be
expressed in each of these forms; and it is only
the poet who has developed this sense of fitness
who is qualified to attempt ‘free verse’.” The
point’s not that free verse poets shouldn’t
write unless they’ve demonstrated a proficiency
in language approximating as nearly as possible
to that of the masters—in which case most
litmags would lie barely opened in a reader’s
lap! It’s rather a question of recognizing,
humbly and throughout an entire career, the
diversity of existing literary genres, styles
and “stanza forms” and, more pressingly, of
learning directly both from established literary
canon and from its most skilled and innovative
users. I believe that the “Poetrybridge” free
verse selections published here are the outcome
of this collaboration of tradition and literary
richness, with most of its writers having been
trained already in eastern verses. It’s
worthwhile also to comment briefly on the likely
extent to which the eastern disciplines
of haiku, tanka, senryu and sijo forms may have
helped shape the poetry of free verse poets in
general.
Free verse (from the French vers libre is
best seen as a loosely forged chain of distinct
language forms (and traditions), with the
emphasis to be placed on the oxymoronic “loosely
forged”. It lies somewhere between prose and the
more traditional tightly-knit sonnet, sestina
and villanelle. Like prose free verse enjoys the
freedom of unfettered expression, without having
to concern itself unduly with the restrictions
of rhyme, meter and prescribed subject matter;
but unlike prose, and aligning it more closely
to traditional verse, free verse lines are
shorter and do, on careful examination, reveal
rhythms peculiar to themselves. But how exactly
can eastern writing have influenced the
practitioners of western free verse?
I’d like to propose that the free verse poems
offered here comprise a class of writing
characterized primarily by an elegant (but at
the same joyfully fanciful) economy of
expression, though never sacrificing essential
content, that it couldn’t have achieved
without at least some initial engagement with
eastern styles. And what has accounted for this
polished presentation? As restrictive as any
sonnet and villanelle poetry may be, they have
clearly evolved as representative and malleable
genres, literary evolution being a unique
“including” and “excluding” process whose aim is
to adapt to the new challenges of time and
place. Verse types, in other words, seem to
possess this ability to emerge from any
other two preceding (but formally related)
styles, such as would certainly draw attention
to themselves as viable and lasting literary
creations. So why shouldn’t the poets in this
section, most of whom have already practised in
eastern genres, be read as creative artisans of
a new “free verse”style? “Free verse” and the
more highly specialized tanka, haiku and sijo,
if imaged here iconically, as overlapping
circles (but not to press a Venn diagram analogy
too far!) are co-creators of an interestingly
unique poetry writing that's tendered here for
the first time. The overlapping section of two
poetry types constitutes a new "product" of
"free verse" and eastern writing forms after
some period of fruitful dialogue and exchange.
From “free verse” it’s inherited fluency and
unrestricted expression; from eastern verse,
terse expression, timing and tight
construction.
The enchantment and pleasure of discovering
something "new" in the act of reading will await
every reader who's delighted already in literary
forms.
FLOATING BRIDGE SPECIAL FEATURES - FREE VERSE:
ED BAKER
HELEN BAR-LEV
