LOTS OF WORDS

8.16.11 Limitations

Quote of the Day: The enemy of art is the absence of limitations. -George Orson Welles

Imagine a musician, a pianist for example, who decides that sheet music is for the birds. After all, he knows of many other great pianist that do not use sheet music. The pianist wants to play from the heart so he bangs on the ivory keys. Low to high, high to low, and everything in between. He doesn't play with rhythm, he plays whatever his fingers want to play.

How do you think the audience is going to respond?

They are probably going to be running out the back door as fast as they can. Why? Because they don't hear music. They hear a mess of flat and sharp notes played without any rhyme or reason. It is a jumbled mess.

But what about the pianist? Does he actually like the mess? Probably. As he plays the piano, he is letting out his emotions, so he thinks it is great.  If he looked back on the performance, he would likely see some error but not as much as the audience.

This pianist can be a metaphor for a poet. As a poet, I am learning this lesson as we speak. I like to just throw words out on paper and call it a poem. But in reality, it is a mess.

There are hundreds of form types which provide structured limitations such as the Shakespearean Sonnet, the Haiku, the Tanka, etc.  This is the sheet music of poetry.

Writing in free verse is writing without the sheet music BUT it does not mean there are no limitations. There must be limitations of some sort as we write poetry. (We write with limitations everyday and don't even recognize it i.e. grammar, punctuation, spelling).  Rhythm and meter are good limitations to abide by. Making sure the poem flows well is essential.  All poems should flow well. There are many other types of limitations that you can add as you write poetry. For instance, rhyme is a good limitation. It is not a must , of course.  Unfortunately, the pianist, did not employ any limitations when he decided to play without sheet music and the music was bad. Thus, when we write without sheet music, we must use some limitations.

When we employ limitations, we enable our art to be experienced and interpreted by others. For instance, when a three year old scribbles different colors on a sheet of paper, we cannot interpret the meaning of the scribbles.  Yet when an eight year old colors within the lines, we can clearly see and understand the picture that was colored.





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