I'm saying that poetry requires a greater effort of imagination to enjoy than films, but that effort leads to greater intensity of sensation, in the same way Angela Carter said that radio drama was the most visual medium, precisely because you can't see what's going on. Even then you get diagetic sound to help you out, in poetry you do not.
A film may encourage you to fill in the blanks e.g. hearing a sword swipe might suggest a beheading without one being seen, but even then we are getting direct, primary source sound information. In poetry we are not, we are being told what has happened, so we have to supply sound, visuals, smells etc. We are given the bare bones of meaning and we have to fill in the blanks.
'I can point to dozens of films and television shows that challenged my brain, and even more poems and novels that did not. Plus the "challenging your brain" nonsense is a false idol anyway. It makes poetry into brocolli, something to be consumed because it's good for you, not because you enjoy it.'
You have set up something of a straw man. My earlier point was that good cinema uses poetic techniques to good effect. I also said that (good) poetry forces us to make full use of our imaginations in order to be enjoyed. I said that I think people
'have had our imaginations blunted through an excess of passively received sensation'
e.g. bigger explosions, faster car chases, ultra-violence (which began in cinema in the 70s as a kind of protest against sanitised violence and was meant to shock. Unfortunately we sickos lapped it up). We are jaded viewers because we've seen it all, from all the different angles.
I think we have had sensation too easily and now we are bored of it, or at least bored with being led by the nose through another person's fantasy, or their idea of what ours should be; we often feel patronised and manipulated by such art.
Poetry, as I have so often heard from those learned in it's ways, is an opportunity to allow the reader to create his own experience, something unique that he has to work for but which he will value more because of the effort he puts in. I'm speaking from experience as someone who took a while to start exploring the potential poetry offered me as a reader precisely because of the effort involved. Now I am hooked, and yes, I do find that it has a value in terms of my life, and that it is 'good for me'. Have we become so neutered by post-modernity and so scared of any political statement these days that we cannot even affirm the positive aspects of our art? I find that since reading and writing poetry I am more conscious of my surroundings, more aware of parallel phenomena, more observant of character and perhaps more sympathetic to my fellow man. My imagination has been rejuvenated to the extent that I do not get bored on my own so easily - I have actually given up my TV because after discovering poetry I grew frustrated at being trawled through muck to pick up an occasional pearl. I wanted to select my own art (I still love films).
I think we've been hoodwinked into living through the experiences of others rather than daring to have experiences of our own, possibly because it makes us easier to manipulate as good little consumers should be. They keep the corn on the conveyor belt and we keep pecking. Poetry is a step towards encouraging people to discover their own experiences again; and I make no apology for supporting something that I think has the potential to be valuable to society.
The bottom line: with poetry (I am speaking mainly of modern image based poetry), you get no primary source information. You get the words, you have to imagine what's actually going on and create meaning from that. A good poem can take you way beyond the source material until you are actually creating text, rather than discovering hidden meanings in the text provided - this is what I mean by flying. I'm not saying poetry's the only artform that allows this, but I think it has the most potential to because as I've said several times, you are offered so much less pre-packaged sensation.
Alex
[This message has been edited by Alexander Grace (edited April 20, 2005).]
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