Tim, I'm thinking of poetry in general, not necessarily poetry that rings or chimes or resonates or beheads the reader, so if I had to pick a single defining quality for the genre, I guess it would be compression of language. Not as in brevity, more like a crystallization process to produce a pure thought from among the peat that surrounds it.
Memorable speech is pretty close. But then not all poetry is memorable, much as we may hope it will be. Can't be meter, rhyme, imagery, lofty language, or music, because not all poetry has them either.
So back to you, or to others.
Carol
|