Steve,
I'm wary of using "Written poetry" as the gold standard because I'm one of those who has actually heard the last vestiges of an oral poetry, the Miroloyia, or songs of mourning, sung spontaneously in fifteen-syllable lines in southern Greece, and it occurs to me that our definitions of poetry can't only have to do with what we consider "good" poetry.
As to footnotes in general, having just footnoted two massive anthologies of poetry, I'm rather tired of them, yet I can't read much Shakepeare without them, not to mention a lot of Scots poetry, so I'd guess they have their place. I rather think we should minimize their use until they're absolutely necessary. How one defines absolutely necessary I have no idea.
[This message has been edited by David Mason (edited September 07, 2004).]
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