The
Sociology of Form
I
have been struck by the lack of celebrations in the American poetry community
regarding the 100th anniversary of the Cinquain. The form first appeared in print 100 years
ago in a posthumously published collection of its creator’s poetry, the poetry
of Adelaide Crapsey. It is a distinct
contribution to the world of formal verse and since its appearance numerous
poets have found it a congenial vehicle for poetic expression. Yet, I have not heard of any sponsored
celebrations of its presence. For
example, I have not heard of any University conferences devoted to the form,
nor have I seen anything like a Norton Anthology devoted to the Cinquain. There has been a Norton Anthology devoted to
English Language Haiku, called Haiku in
English: The First Hundred Years, published late last year. But nothing by Norton or any other publisher
for the Cinquain.
I
think it is instructive that the HIE anthology emphasizes free verse
haiku. Though there are examples of
syllabic haiku, the preponderance of entries take a free verse approach. In addition, the editors in their essays are
clearly sympathetic to a free verse approach.
Overall, the haiku anthology fits neatly into the esthetics of
modernism.
This
has given me an opportunity to pull together some stray thoughts I have had
about what I think of as the ‘sociology of form’. Specifically, I am referring to the type of
people who seem to be attracted to the syllabic forms that have recently
emerged in English language poetry.
The
first observation is that the appearance of syllabic forms seems to me to be
very much a reflection of popular interest as opposed to the interests of the
elites. I mean here that, with some
exceptions, MFA programs, University English Departments, and similar
institutions of the elites, are not the source of these syllabic forms.
Adelaide
herself is exceptional in this regard.
She was highly educated, went to Vassar and taught at Smith. She also engaged in highly analytical
examinations of English prosody. If she
had lived longer I suspect she would have been a significant presence in the
academy.
But
Adelaide is unusual in this regard. The
syllabic forms that have been created in the 80’s and onward seem to emerge
from what I think of as a more working class background. The rictameter was created by two cousins
interested in poetry; one a fireman. The
tetractys was created by a British poet who wrote a large body of work, but was
not of significant fame. Both the
fibonacci and the lanterne seem to have appeared in several different places at
the same time, but were not created in an official or University context. In general what I have
noticed is that new forms are offered by those with a significant, and long
term, interest in poetry, people who write poetry, people for whom poetry is an
important presence in their lives, but are not of national or international status. I am thinking of people like Etheree
Armstrong Taylor and the creator of the Whitney. They often do not have MFA degrees or are
otherwise accredited. They usually lack
the kind of networks that help new poets break into print. It seems, from what I have observed, that
they may have a local following (at the County or State level), but have not
entered into the national or international scene.
From
the perspective of the University and official poetry magazines, like Poetry
Chicago, the emergence of these syllabic forms is marginal or overlooked
completely. This is understandable. Free verse dominates MFA programs and
University literature departments, with a few significant exceptions. But those exceptions are devoted to
traditional metrical poetry. I am not
aware of a program at the University level that emphasizes a syllabic approach,
or focuses on syllabic forms in English.
(Readers, please correct me if I am wrong.) On the other hand, and this is significant,
syllabic forms are taught in elementary schools. For example, both the syllabic haiku and the
cinquain are regularly taught to children.
Sometimes these forms are taught for didactic purposes (like clarifying
grammar). Sometimes they are taught in a
highly simplified way because they are fun to do in the way that a game is fun
to play. One consequence of this is that
many people have learned about these syllabic forms in congenial settings which
bodes well for the future of these forms.
What
I see in the emergence of syllabic forms in English is what I refer to as a
‘yearning for form’. I think human
beings enjoy creating form. I think that
is why people like to garden, compose tunes and sing songs, why they find
carpentry satisfying, why they like to bake bread, etc. I see the shaping of words into significant
forms in the same light. I think there
is a spontaneous need for form and that this need gets instantiated in poetry
with the creation of form.
For
over a century the elites have emphasized free verse for English language
poetry. But my suspicion is that this
runs against this almost biological need for form. There is something truly satisfying about
composing a well crafted poem in a form that others have used. There is a feeling of connection and
community when one enters such an approach.
There is also a sense of overcoming a challenge. This aspect is similar to why human beings
like to play games. From hockey to
chess, people like to be challenged by rule bound situations to see if they can
live up to the challenge. In poetry,
this manifests as an acceptance of the rules for a form and then instantiating
them in one’s own poetry. Part of the
thrill of writing, and reading, a sonnet, for example, is simply that one has
been able to absorb the parameters of the form, to internalize them, and follow
them out and still, amazingly, created something that others will enjoy.
From
the reader’s perspective, formal poetry creates a sense of expectation on the
part of the reader which, when met, is pleasing. It is like knowing that a waltz will be have
a certain time signature and then hearing that signature when listening to a new
waltz. Or it is like hearing a new song
that uses a traditional song structure with verses and refrain. In poetry, formal verse gives the reader an
assist; the poet is taking the reader into account. And, to a certain extent, flattering the
reader by assuming the reader knows aspects of the form.
This
spontaneous appearance of syllabic forms in English has happened without
official sponsorship. From the
perspective of official poetry organizations it is something that has happened
under the radar. In some instances it has
happened even though official organizations have disapproved of it. Specifically, the ongoing production of
syllabic haiku has happened in spite of a concerted effort on the part of
official haiku organizations to undermine the approach. This indicates to me that the attractiveness
of form is inherently compelling and can’t be ignored for too long. My feeling is that the emergence of syllabic
forms in 20th century English poetry is an awakening to a dimension
of poetry, the formal dimension of poetry, which had been dismissed and
sidelined or ignored by elites. What is
intriguing is that this emergence of a formal dimension is taking place in a
reconfigured context. The movement of
free verse had, and has, a strong ideological component to it. This manifested as a dismissal of the relevance
of the past for present day poets. This
created a break with the past in order to explore new ways of approaching
poetry.
One
of the unforeseen consequences of breaking with the past is that the formal
dimension of poetry can be uncovered in approaches that were not central to
traditional English poetry. One of these
approaches is formal syllabic verse.
Formal syllabic verse is traditional in the sense that it accepts rules
and regulations, relies on counting to shape a line, and views form as a
positive means of expression rather than an impingement on individuality. Formal syllabic verse is non-traditional in
that it does not rely on metrics in the shaping of its forms. This difference probably seems minor to a
free verse poet because free verse poets do not want to be constrained by
things like counting and both traditional metrics and formal syllabic verse
constrain the poet through the mechanism of counting. But I believe the difference between formal
metrical verse and formal syllabic verse is audible; there is a different sonic
presence and pacing between the two. And
it appears that some poets who are intrigued by the possibility of form in
English verse are often attracted to the sonicscape offered by a syllabic
context.
Syllabic
poetry is still very new to the English poetic world. But the fact that most of the interest in
syllabics has emerged in a marginal, and unofficial, context says to me that it
is emerging from strong roots. Already
we have seen a number of attractive blossoms.
The garden of English syllabic verse forms has only recently been
planted and already that garden is attracting numerous visitors. In a way, it is a hidden garden. It is on the edge of the English speaking poetic world. But when you have some time, come and take a
look. It is fresh and inviting and poets who visit this garden invariably find themselves enriched.
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