Good Poetry
I've been doing alot of reading on the net lately. Reading webcomics like
Order of the Stick and
Nuklear Power. I regularly read my brother's and a couple of other blogs. I've also been reading up on greek history through
wikipedia and
digonsite. Aside from that, i've also been looking at alot of poetry. If you've been reading my blog, (which for some reason I highly doubt), then you'll know that I haven't been writing any poetry lately. This is not because i'm lazy or too busy playing Guild Wars but is in fact because I can't for the life of me think of something to write at the moment. So i've been reading poetry and i've realised what a supremely subjective thing it is, one person's view of good poetry can completely contradict everyone elses and still be correct. Take this poem by some random anonymous fellow,
Sweet is love when all is sane
Sweet is death to rid the pain
Cruel is death when all is well
Cruel is love when all is hellI honestly think its not that great, its a very standard, everyone has heard it before piece of rhyming poetry which in some peoples opinion is just crap. (Refer to my
brother's post) But then again, some people like this kind of thing, pretty words with no particular meaning. It dosen't have to mean anything, take for example most of the music by Bach and the rest of their crew. Alot of it dosen't really mean anything, its just pure music, a shifting form that dosen't need to mean anything, and as far as human achievement goes, I don't think you can get much higher than Bach. So if the highest form of human achievement in the arts dosen't really mean anything, what does that say about the rest of the them? Since when does poetry need to mean anything, it all depends on how YOU feel when you read it, in the words of some author from I can't remember where "Poetry baby, is feeling".
Now for some Guild Wars
Cool lines from Random Songs
I see Unspeakable vulgarity,
Institutionalised mediocrity,
Infinite tragedy,
Rise up little souls, join the doomed army,
Fight the good fight, wage the unwinnable war,
Elegance against ignorance!
Difference against indifference!
Wit against shit!
From the song, Middle Class Heroes
By The Divine Comedy
__________________________________________
We'll drink the wine till the cup is dry,
and kiss the girls so they'll not cry,
and toss the dice until we fly
to dance with Jak o' the Shadows.
We'll dance all night while the moon runs free,
and dandle the lasses upon our knee,
and then you'll ride along with me,
to dance with Jak o' the Shadows.
We'll sing all night, and drink all day,
and on the girls we'll spend our pay,
and when it's gone, then we'll away,
to dance with Jak o' the Shadows.
There're some delight in ale and wine,
and some in girls with ankles fine
but my delight, yes, always mine,
is to dance with Jak o' the Shadows.
We'll toss the dice however they fall,
and snuggle the girls be they short or tall,
then follow young Mat whenever he calls,
to dance with Jak o' the Shadows."
Jak o' the Shadows,
from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time
(not really a song i know)
________________________________________
from tower to wall to guard to guard to wall
ever ready for the fire to fall
the confiners haven't seen the sun since
the lifers let go of their irrelevent innocence
but long before a single round was shot
word was spread from block to block to cell block
they're going to take him
and make an example of him for the escapees to fear
the incoming of the
incoming of the
oncoming of the year
you either die on the inside or trying to get out
the choice is yours, the choice is here
From Time Served, by Dispatch
______________________________________________
All the men held tall with their chests in the air
With courage in their blood and a fire in their stare
It was a gray morning and they were all wondering how they would fare
Till the old general told them to go home
He said:
I have seen the others
And I have discovered
That this fight is not worth fighting
And I have seen their mothers
And I will no other, to follow me where I'm going
But the men stood fast with their guns on their shoulders
Not knowing what to do with the contradicting orders
The General said he would do his own duty but he would extend it no further
The men can go as they please
Not a man moved their eyes gazed straight ahead,
Till one by one they stepped back and not a word was said
And the old general was left with his own words echoing in his head
He then prepared to fight
From The General, By Dispatch
____________________________________
Picture a scene in your mind
Looks at all the people and take note of the setting behind
Listen, watch, and wait
A plot begins to take shape
There's a story
And then characters will come to you
Relating events as they choose to
But all their words and actions come entirely from you
If you're a storyteller you might think you're without
responsibility
And you can lead your characters anyway you want
You have immunity
Have you considered the way
People might react to all the things that your characters say?
And are their actions hand in hand with what you want to portay?
Are you sick? crippled? Insane?
Expressing the desires that daren't speak their name?
Are you the one to be blamed?
Now you're a storyteller you might think you're without
responsibility
But in directions, actions and words
Cause and effect
You need consistency
How can you finish the tale?
Lives which have played a part
Are summarised from the very start
And episodes left out to make it all go our way
"It's a mighty big world
Some of it I've seen
But mostly I've only heard
And stories are all fiction from their moment of birth"
You're just a storyteller
You're not trying to escape responsability
If we believe you then you're succesful
But you don't make claims of verity
Storytelling By Belle & Sebastian
