Friday, January 16, 2015
Magic but How?
After reading The Writing of Stones, I realized that magic in poetry is not as simple as I first thought. When Scott introduced magic, I understood it as a simple definitive aspect that poets used, but after reading the Writing of the Stones, I discovered that there are various forms of magic that the authors can use. As I mentioned in one of my first blogs, the concept of creating an illusion through poetry seems to be one of the most fascinating ways to enrich a poem. However, the illusion can be created naturally as indicated by Caillois or mystical as stated by Breton. Both are very effective techniques, yet there are applicable to various situations in various poems. I determined natural magic in a poem to be the magic that is obvious, such as a simple illusion that the audience can see. They may not be able to discover how the illusion was created, but it is physically in front of them. The other mystical illusion I felt was more internal and surreal. It made one's mind think about how to process what was happening in the illusion rather than simply witnessing it, such as in the movie Inception. When I was first introduced to poetry, I was a novice (as I still am), but after reading about the techniques poets use to create a unique poem, I realize that the world of poetry has much more than rhyme, rhythm, and emotion.
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Hi Rahul,
ReplyDeleteI was also skeptical about the use of magic in poetry. For me, I think this was because I had only one limited definition of magic. I am still sort of bewildered on the concept of magic ingrained in poetry. I think there is a special kind of magic for poetry, the ways in which authors are make connections between separate but familiar notions and ideas in order to make the readers think about reality in a different way. I believe that this is like casting a spell. It makes us more empathetic , understanding, and it can confuse us. I feel like this is especially true with Surrealist poets like Joyce Mansour, Andre Breton, and Aimé Césaire. They create seemingly absurd contrasting images through they're somewhat unconscious automatic writing.