*steps onto soapbox*
I do not believe in teleology in art; I do not believe in some necessary or Hegelian development or progress. I do not believe that it is impossible anymore to speak of "big themes” in poetry, e.g., love, death, wonder, faith, despair – which is to say, I believe that Auden, Eliot, Yeats, Szymborska and Frost existed. I believe some of the aforementioned poets proved irrefutably that superb artistry can breathe a newborn’s breath into hoary forms. I believe that much free verse is randomly punctuated prose. I believe that much metrical verse is doggerel. I believe that a fresh, startling image or metaphor is poetry. I do not believe that any pair of rhymes is necessarily tired. I believe that meter and rhyme help make speech memorable, which is why meter and rhyme will never abandon poetry.
*steps off of soapbox*
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