I was watching Def Poetry Jam a couple of nights ago, and had a bunch of thoughts rolling around my head that probably need to be captured here. Not sure how interesting they'll be to others, but maybe if I capture them correctly they'll be interesting to other folks too. Essentially I was thinking about spoken aloud poetry versus reading it to yourself, as well as rants as poetry.
See extended.
Watching Def Poetry Jam (aside from the name which may be a tad offputting to the non-hiphop among us) is enlightening. While I've always loved poetry for how intensely personal it is or can become, I have to admit that there's something to seeing the author perform their work that gives the poetry a whole new dimension.
I don't use the word "perform" lightly. I think the works on that show are showcased as the author really intended them - with all the things that make up good poetry blended in just the proportions they were meant to have:
alliteration
meter
cadence
imagery
nuance
wit
inspiration
metaphor
simile
But in addition to those things, there is an immediacy to a poem that is read or performed aloud that they may not take on in the privacy of your own head. Maybe when I read it to myself I rush it, or I don't really roll the words off my tongue and lips and palate in the way they were intended, or I put the emphasis in the wrong places. Or maybe when I read it to myself I put a different emotional slant to the piece which really changes its meaning.
For most poetry I'll never know that for sure, but I wish I could both read the poems that are performed on that show as well as see them performed so that I can compare/contrast what I get out of each version. Certainly my favorite poems are my favorites because of what they mean to me in the way that I personally put my own flavor into them based on my interpretation of the words based on their arrangement. But it is also indescribable to see and hear a poet perform their own works because you have both your own interpretation still, as well as the author's interpretation that you can meld together.
For instance, one of my favorite poems as soon as I read it was Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. In my head it was quiet, dignified, merely statements. I was flipping channels on cable one night and caught Maya Angelou reading her works aloud as part of a discussion. And suddenly I heard it as she meant it to be - triumphant, can't hold me down, sassy, brassy, defiant, and an insight into the pride of being a black woman. And that changed me, changed my mind, made me look at things in a different way, which is really my favorite aspect of good poetry.
I guess I'm decrying the loss of spoken word or oral traditions as methods of imparting information and meaning. There is something about words spoken in various ways that make them more than what they would appear to be on paper. Certainly words coming out of the mouth of James Earl Jones and out of the mouth of Woody Allen, though they can be the same words, will suddenly take on different sounds and meanings because of how they say them as much as the words themselves. Great orators can take great words and give them even more life, can make them a rallying cry to take action in a way that wouldn't come through from just a straight reading of the words. Take the difference between a mediocre actor and a great actor (though this is not a poetry specific example) - a mediocre actor can say the words in the right order, and even with the right tone and emotion, but a great actor can take you into the moment, directly into the emotion of the piece.
And out of the serious and into the mundane - What I wouldn't give to hear Dorothy Parker recite any of her poetry, especially this one, because while I think I'm capturing the humor and bitterness at the same time, I wonder if that's how it would really sound from her lips? Ok, after reading some more of her stuff online, when I already knew I loved her work, I have to add her to that imaginary list of famous people alive or dead that I'd invite to a dinner party, and I'd provide her with all of her favorite brand of alcohol that she could drink.
Am I just some sort of freak to love words so much? I love the way they sound and how they feel when you say them and complexity and the nuance of them, and I especially love learning new ones. And don't you love it when you hear a word pronounced that you've only ever seen in print? I remember when I was 12 and put together that the word I'd seen in print and pronounced in my head as "awe-ry" was really pronounced "a-wry" - it was a revelation, as well as being funny as hell.
Oh, and randomly because I thought it was interesting and will probably want to come back to these sites at some point to browse around: Poetic Table of the Elements and types of poetry that I should someday attempt, and this one for the listening booth option.
And I'll have to get back to rants as poetry. Tried to look up some examples to give immediacy to my arguments, but could only find stuff from Denis Learyand Dennis Miller, and not good examples from Brett Butler who was actually my favorite among rants to listen to. Maybe later I'll deconstruct how I think some of their rants are poetic. And maybe some day I'll start one of these posts and end it like a real [insert word I can't think of here] that has a beginning, middle, end and actual point I'm trying to prove. Or maybe not.
Posted by cshell at August 17, 2004 09:50 PM