...but it is almost impossible to write something profound
without using symbols that have a history to them.
But therein lies the problem - the architecture and the tools to build them with are tainted by culture and history - the imposition of shared meaning upon them. It was the problem faced by modernists - to dispense with the tools of tradition as they were not able to offer something new. It was essentially the same argument the Frankfurt school said of popular culture, in that it was so overwhelmingly reified, it was not possible to overcome its domination - and that only the 'New' - like Adorno's 'New Music', was able to offer liberative potential through dialectical interaction. Adorno had to eat his words after only a few years. Real art has Benjamin's 'Auratic effect', and can be difficult to pin down precisely - but I do believe the 'old' is still, for me, the best way of finding newness - the urge to disappear beyond the extreme limits of interpersonal understanding is an academic exercise which does not necessarily come up with good poetry (as neither does keeping within the metrical tradition - but I believe it's more likely). I agree with Bob - good poems are. Why they are, of course, is socially mediated - but I know my bias and understand it.
In the end, can we be wholly new? - isn't everything a recapitulation of something else - books speak of books - but it might appear to be a fresh take on an issue.
Now - can someone make a Horror film in a new way? That would be something.
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