Issue 30

Notes

The unique characteristics of printed poetry shape our interactions with it. These characteristics operate through demands that the poetic form places on us and the time
scales of these demands. A printed poem exists on a page in its entirety. It can be somewhat apprehended in a single instant, but it must be traversed from beginning to end for complete engagement. Acknowledging a poem’s capacity to be immediately perceived pushes poetry closer to painting, sculpture, architecture and other forms of static art—those without a definitive beginning or end. Nonetheless, although a poem. may not change once it is printed, it is only effective when completely read from top to bottom. This, in turn, allows poetry to be at home with music, theatre, film and other changing art forms that bring shape to themselves in the space between a beginning and end. 

Unique characteristics of printed poetry extend far beyond these two aspects, but it is these two particularly that form a niche for printed poetry within the poetic ecology. To engage with a poem is to engage with these characteristics. Heightening our understanding of poetic form increases our sensitivity, enhances our engagement and improves our communication.

- W.B.

“[Poetry’s] characteristic peculiarity lies in the power with which it subjects to
the mind and to its ideas the sensuous element from which music and painting in
their degree began to liberate art.” - Hegel, on Aesthetics