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poetryslamming
May. 31st, 2004 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsychenow, from my understanding a period's purpose is to provide a stop. to say, "this" has ended. To put such a mark at the end of a section is pointless, & further shows that the poet is not making his/her own choices but reflexively & robotically including things in their piece
Okay, but you still haven't explained how you get from the first sentence to the second. That's where your theory is, and that's what I'm trying to understand.
How I use punctuation in poetry is very similar to how I use it in all other writing. I hold grammar to be a tool, an utterly important tool because communication occurs via syntax, and it is with punctuation that we can alter syntax. Punctuation in this sense is a way to turn the sentence or the sentiment in the sentence in just the manner you wish. Because poetry is a written medium, punctuation becomes all the more important, because without punctuation inflection becomes all but impossible to discern. It is through inflection that true communication comes through. In that sense, punctuation is a tool a poet should use with the skill of a surgeon's scapel.
I sometimes violate grammatical rules in poetry in order to get the pauses and inflections I want. This can be filed under "poetic license" but really it's manipulation of the rhythm of the sentence. Words have their own rhythms, but the rests (punctuation marks) we place in their way causes those rhythms to shift. Poetry is ultimately a musical art, and punctuation is a way to mark rests and emphases. But also as poetry is a cognitive art, punctuation may signal further meanings, double entendres, paranomasia.
Now, this has nothing to do with ending a section with a period. I don't understand your philosophical argument against doing so. It's only natural that at the end of a story or sentence it come to some sort of sonic or tonal end. When I speak, I tend to let my voice rest at a period; I don't let it stray off into the stratosphere. This is why I don't leave end punctuation off at the ends of sections: it wouldn't mimic plain speech.
In addition, if I use punctuation throughout, but then leave it off for apparently no reason, then it would only serve to confuse the reader.
(See the entire thread here.)
Okay, but you still haven't explained how you get from the first sentence to the second. That's where your theory is, and that's what I'm trying to understand.
How I use punctuation in poetry is very similar to how I use it in all other writing. I hold grammar to be a tool, an utterly important tool because communication occurs via syntax, and it is with punctuation that we can alter syntax. Punctuation in this sense is a way to turn the sentence or the sentiment in the sentence in just the manner you wish. Because poetry is a written medium, punctuation becomes all the more important, because without punctuation inflection becomes all but impossible to discern. It is through inflection that true communication comes through. In that sense, punctuation is a tool a poet should use with the skill of a surgeon's scapel.
I sometimes violate grammatical rules in poetry in order to get the pauses and inflections I want. This can be filed under "poetic license" but really it's manipulation of the rhythm of the sentence. Words have their own rhythms, but the rests (punctuation marks) we place in their way causes those rhythms to shift. Poetry is ultimately a musical art, and punctuation is a way to mark rests and emphases. But also as poetry is a cognitive art, punctuation may signal further meanings, double entendres, paranomasia.
Now, this has nothing to do with ending a section with a period. I don't understand your philosophical argument against doing so. It's only natural that at the end of a story or sentence it come to some sort of sonic or tonal end. When I speak, I tend to let my voice rest at a period; I don't let it stray off into the stratosphere. This is why I don't leave end punctuation off at the ends of sections: it wouldn't mimic plain speech.
In addition, if I use punctuation throughout, but then leave it off for apparently no reason, then it would only serve to confuse the reader.
(See the entire thread here.)