by Archibald MacLeish




Ars Poetica

 

A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,

Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown—

A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.

                 *
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs,

Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind—

A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs.

                  *

A poem should be equal to:
Not true.

For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.

For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea—

A poem should not mean
But be.

 

 

 





Poetry by Editorial Team The PoetBay support member heart!
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Written on 2011-06-10 at 18:26

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Mr. MacLeish and I grew up in the same town. He two generations before me. Reading his words, particularly the word "should" is an unpleasant experience, as if he were yet another teacher or parent or authority figure telling the young me what "should" be.

His idea of Ars Poetica seems as narrow, confined, and limited as the town's Main Street and Elders—though the poem itself is quaint and safely poetic, he wrote this when he was young(ish).

The fact that

"a poem should not mean
but be"

is his most famous line, or most popular, or most quoted, would probably make him sigh, because he spent the rest of his life working very hard, one way or another, on his poetry and other writing, including political writing. I don't think those later works could be seen as just "being," and I think he intended them to "mean" a great deal.

Ars Poetica, an idealized, dreamy version of poetry, seems like fluff compared with his later work. He had yet to grapple with the works of Eliot and Pound, and confront fascism, World War Two and post-war politics. It seems a young man's poem.

Thank you to the Editorial team for posting it.
2011-06-18


Zoya Zaidi
A poem should be,
A piece of your heart,
that yearns for beauty,
for passion, for eternity...

A poem should be a song
sung in longing of your beloved
of your love for life,
for living, for dreaming,
for hoping, for losing,
for finding you feet again
after a near fatal fall
Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes
after it seems all is lost...

A poem should be a hot desert
where feelings gets scorched.
A poem should be a furnace
in which passion froths.
A poem should be a canopy of trees
under which a tired soul
can find some respite
from his beaten spirits
after a long days night.

A poem should a mountain peak
topped with snow
where the fluffy clouds meet.
a poem should be a fragrant garden
with roses, lilies and jasmine trees
of ideas imagination and dreams.

A poem should be a balm on
bruised and weary heart.
a poem should capture your attention
from the start.

A poem should be safe haven
in a world full of greed
A poem should be a cry
of a heart that bleeds...

a poem should be beauty
in words so to speak
spilled on the canvas of life
in a moment brief...


Author: Zoya Zaidi
Aligarh UP, India
Copyright (c): Zoya Zaidi
11.06.2011
My spontaneous response to this beautiful poem!
2011-06-11