Hi, Oriane,
it seems no one wants to talk about the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E P=O=E=T=S – and I can’t blame them.
Are metrics people and Language people in different camps, like mods & rockers?
Yes, something like that.
Language poetry derives from the Post-structuralist movement of the 70s/80s, and involves the idea that language is encoded with politics, and thus any attempt to undermine Western values and Western imperialist literature must begin in the “deconstruction” of language.
Here are some of the tenets of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry:
# Systematically derange the language, for example, write a work consisting only of prepositional phrases, or, add a gerundive to every line of an already existing piece of prose or poetry, etc.
# Get a group of words (make a list or select at random); then form these words (only) into a piece of writing—whatever the words allow. Let them demand their own form, and/or: Use certain words in a set way, like, the same word in every line, or in a certain place in every paragraph, etc. Design words.
# Write what cannot be written, for example, compose an index. (Read an index as a poem).
# Attempt writing in a state of mind that seems least congenial.
# Consider word & letter as forms—the concretistic distortion of a text, for example, too many o's or a multiplicity of thin letters (illftiii, etc.)
# Attempt to eliminate all connotation from a piece of writing & vice versa.
# Work your ass off to change the language & don't ever get famous.
Source
This stuff is very big in academia, where the anti-life, anti-beauty movement is most apparent today.
As you can gather, I think the stuff pongs like a wombats’ jockstrap.
[This message has been edited by Mark Allinson (edited February 09, 2008).]