The Alan Sondheim Mail Archive

Poetry the Configuration of Truths


the sentiments in poetry are meant to be taken at face value, how shall i
hate thee, i'm heading towards heaven, i think i shall see, even language
poetry presents phrasing whose meaning can be taken literally or perform-
atively. so what you say. i say that by its very deflection into the
horrors of language, poetry tells truths, largely through diminution, or
the placing of facts in a problematic world. poetry is our great mirror;
we use it to express the world in its fullness, as in the totality of the
novel - the intensity of the language brings out anomalies. it goes down
sweetly; people often read poetry for its truths and exalted descent into
language. everyday language is never enough; we need examine it, bury
ourselves in it. every poem is innocent, every poem fetishizes the real in
pristine clarity.

"O ever present in my view! My wafted spirit is with you, And soothes your
boding fears: I see you all oppressed with gloom Sit lonely in that
cheerless room-- Ah me! You are in tears!" (S.T.C) if ever present, then
the language is redolent of the truth of faithfulness, a second-sight or
ectoplasm. he has gained a spirit which enhances her own. she is captiva-
ted, enthralled; he is her primordial origin. this is the difficult truth
which only poetry can capture. think now of the fecundity of contemporary
poetry. surely it lives within the truth of performativity; everything
happens, everything has happened. poetry counteracts the engineering of
the concrete, revealing the truth beneath the surface of empty structure.

poetry cultivates our morals, presents true sentiments, behaves as thera-
peutic infiltrating our body politic. Plato was wrong, not by virtue of
the Apollonian; it's the Dionysian truth that emerges, voluptuously, from
within. better to live in the world of poetic truth, than the falsities of
docudrama, contemporary news media, or popular novels. poetry allows all
of us to refine or sentience; if it were not for poetry, Coleridge, and
the rest of us, would have remained permanently mad.

thus poetry is a cornucopia of truths, and should be read and practiced by
everyone, all of us who live in this world, with clear vision towards the
next.



===

apologies, shd be 'refine our sentience'


On Fri, 15 Nov 2002, Alan Sondheim wrote:

> Poetry the Configuration of Truths
>
>
> the sentiments in poetry are meant to be taken at face value, how shall i
> hate thee, i'm heading towards heaven, i think i shall see, even language
> poetry presents phrasing whose meaning can be taken literally or perform-
> atively. so what you say. i say that by its very deflection into the
> horrors of language, poetry tells truths, largely through diminution, or
> the placing of facts in a problematic world. poetry is our great mirror;
> we use it to express the world in its fullness, as in the totality of the
> novel - the intensity of the language brings out anomalies. it goes down
> sweetly; people often read poetry for its truths and exalted descent into
> language. everyday language is never enough; we need examine it, bury
> ourselves in it. every poem is innocent, every poem fetishizes the real in
> pristine clarity.
>
> "O ever present in my view! My wafted spirit is with you, And soothes your
> boding fears: I see you all oppressed with gloom Sit lonely in that
> cheerless room-- Ah me! You are in tears!" (S.T.C) if ever present, then
> the language is redolent of the truth of faithfulness, a second-sight or
> ectoplasm. he has gained a spirit which enhances her own. she is captiva-
> ted, enthralled; he is her primordial origin. this is the difficult truth
> which only poetry can capture. think now of the fecundity of contemporary
> poetry. surely it lives within the truth of performativity; everything
> happens, everything has happened. poetry counteracts the engineering of
> the concrete, revealing the truth beneath the surface of empty structure.
>
> poetry cultivates our morals, presents true sentiments, behaves as thera-
> peutic infiltrating our body politic. Plato was wrong, not by virtue of
> the Apollonian; it's the Dionysian truth that emerges, voluptuously, from
> within. better to live in the world of poetic truth, than the falsities of
> docudrama, contemporary news media, or popular novels. poetry allows all
> of us to refine or sentience; if it were not for poetry, Coleridge, and
> the rest of us, would have remained permanently mad.
>
> thus poetry is a cornucopia of truths, and should be read and practiced by
> everyone, all of us who live in this world, with clear vision towards the
> next.
>
>
>
> ===
>

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