ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I'm with the Big W!

Those red herrings are bad for your diet Mannie.

Haven’t come across that quote before, Neville. Interesting. A bit Yoda-ish.

I can see that traditional verse has “safety” aspects (metre and rhyme) that are, in a way, comfortable. They’re hand-holds to cling to, around which to structure our verse (and find fault with it if needs be). The problem arises if we get too comfortable, too settled, if we don’t take a few risks and challenge the status quo now and then. Whether it’s a "prison" is a matter of perspective, but I’d rather not become poetically institutionalised!

Cheers
David

David Campbell wrote:Whether it’s a "prison" is a matter of perspective

Yes I think perpective is the word.

I think that Wordsworth probably meant that he enjoyed the challenge of making his voice emerge from the restraints of formal verse. I reckon C.J. Dennis probably felt the same.
Like the people on Letters & Numbers who have the challenge to sort out an anagram in 30 seconds. Much easier if you had 60 seconds or 5 minutes. ( for me anyway ) But they put themselves in the "prison" of 30 seconds, it would appear for the satisfaction of meeting a special challenge.

Other poets have a different perspective for as many reasons as there are writers I guess. Different challenges for different artists.