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Unread 11-05-2010, 09:18 AM
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Jayne Osborn Jayne Osborn is offline
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Location: Middle England
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Above all, in my view, poetry should communicate and not confuse the reader.
Absolutely, Chris - I couldn't agree more. A lot of modern poetry is, to me, completely unintelligible, which any number of footnotes, endnotes or epigraphs won't alleviate!
Poetry should be accessible, and a poem should not need explaining to the reader, or its writer has failed in their duty to communicate.

Little-known foreign phrases, or anything else that might cause a problem, of course, need to be noted somewhere to help the reader, but I don't mind much whether it's at the bottom of the page or the back of the book; mostly I just want to read the poems, enjoy them and understand them!

I'd say, don't fret about this issue too much; let the poems speak for themselves for the most part, and just help the reader with a few notes about something you consider too obscure for them to either work out or find out easily.
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