The Power of Poetry: Why Everyone Should Write | Hacker News Reader

The Power of Poetry: Why Everyone Should Write

domofutu.substack.com

14 pointsdomofutu11 comments

“ You could argue that at its core, poetry is about distilling thoughts and emotions into their purest form.”

I really disagree with this statement. Language places heavy constraints on what can and cannot be expressed in poetry more than prose does. If poetry represents human emotion, then it should be easy to translate poetry to another language, but it’s not. Try using the same form of a poem and translate to another language and see if it has the same emotive effect - it’s really difficult to do so.

Poetry seems to express emotions because its constraints has limits on what can be conveyed effectively. As far as I understand, rhymes and meters used in poetry are more of mnemonic techniques from non-literate culture, like a check-sum or error correction mechanism. In post-literate culture, it’s merely a word play.

Maybe I just don’t like poetry.

"Language places heavy constraints on what can and cannot be expressed in poetry more than prose does."

If by this you mean "rhymes and meters", then perhaps. But, there is a whole world of interesting poetry unconstrained by such concerns. The form is significantly less constrained than prose - so much so that when prose does not conform to certain standards, readers often wonder if it is not too "poetic" to be considered prose.

In fact, poetic language is described as "the fullest possible language" where poets "pack the absolute maximum of meaning (in every sense of the word) into every part of the poem." This density of meaning and the ability to use language in unconventional ways actually expands the expressive possibilities in poetry beyond what is typically found in prose.

https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/engl1130/chapter/chapter-four...

Enjoy this poem:

I dwell in Possibility – (466)

By Emily Dickinson

I dwell in Possibility –

A fairer House than Prose –

More numerous of Windows –

Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –

Impregnable of eye –

And for an everlasting Roof

The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –

For Occupation – This –

The spreading wide my narrow Hands

To gather Paradise –

In the era of LLMs, it's difficult to think of an art form with a worse risk-to-reward ratio for pursuing--even if just as a hobby--than poetry. I know that sounds philistine to some, but even if the quality of LLM spam isn't up to par with what you can produce, how many people can tell the difference? I wish we lived in an alternate timeline where AI was automating drug discovery or protein folding faster than it was art, but sadly, that's not the case.

None of the best or most famous poets of the last two centuries ever made a living off of their poetry. That's not why anyone does it.

Are we counting rappers. They're making lots of dough

I guess I also "wish we lived in an alternate timeline where AI was automating drug discovery or protein folding faster than it was art"

At the same time, however, I feel like this kind of catastrophizing about the end art has happened so many times before (e.g., with the invention of photography, the rise of abstract art, or the emergence of digital art tools).

Each time, artists have adapted, found new ways to express themselves, and pushed the boundaries of creativity. AI might change the landscape of art (it certainly will), but it's unlikely to spell its end. Instead, it could (it certainly will) become a new tool for artists to explore and expand their creative horizons, much like how digital tools have been integrated into many artistic practices today.

The article is more about the values of writing poetry and what it could do for you, not about making a career out of it.

I got that, and the reason why I said "even if just as a hobby" is that part of the satisfaction many (including myself) get from their art comes from sharing it with other people, even without profit, and right now, poetry is probably more devalued by AI (thanks to LLMs) than any other art form.

If you go read your poetry at an event you will be less satisfied because others may have done theirs with an LLM?

Yeah, especially if the LLM was trained on my work.

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