Something that was said in class was that a stanza is always in movement, that it is like the coast of a sea, coming back to the same point with one constant message. I think we discussed on the 27th of January about this phenomenon, specifically how Chaucer kept coming back to a single message in his writing.
I think this is particularly true of my writing, because I often pose a question in the beginning of my writing (as I will with my first workshop piece, “Memorials in March”) and work to answer, denounce or prove that question.
I think the seeds or genesis of a poem is in a question we pose to ourselves or even to the world, because as writers or in a broader spectrum as people, we are curious beings that seek to find out more and more each day. Scientists do this through the scientific method, mathematicians do this through equations and artists do this by creating art and writers do this specifically by posing a question. A question in a poem need not come through the use of a question mark, but a situation that is not ordinary that creates questions in the reader’s mind.
When writing this post, I thought of John Donne’s The Sun Rising, where the speaker poses a question to the Sun why it disturbs and interrupts two lovers.
Whatever the message is in a poem, I think it is particularly true that as a writer, we seek to come back to a certain message that we pose, most often as a question.
Hi DongWon! Really interesting post–I think it’s definitely important to be asking questions in (and through) poetry. Some of my favorite poems leave me with more questions than answers, which prompts me to think through my experiences in new ways. I like the parallels you draw between art and science, too–both disciplines deal with trying to find truth in the world, I think.
Your post made me think that a poem can also be a question in itself, an act of questioning, similar to the ethics of the scientific method, which always seeks to subject perceptions to rigorous testing, in order to discern universal principles. I think that can be a really powerful ethics to apply to art, as well.