Roger, I broadly agree.
I take it that the point of Valéry’s “one does not make poetry with ideas, but with words”, a remark, which after all reflects his own practice as a poet, is that, in the extended act of making the poem, ideas – that is, abstract or philosophical ideas – are elements to be deployed alongside other elements of a kind I mention above and should not automatically be given the priority our prose habits would accord them. The implication is that this is why Degas is not a poet. As you say of your own practice, “I'm also willing to change an idea to make the 'idea scheme' come out correctly or to solve a technical or formal problem”. Of course, there are other ways of working. I don’t imagine Pope, when he was writing An Essay on Criticism, worked in this way: presenting his thoughts in a sharp and orderly fashion, would surely have had greater priority in the process of composition. When he was working on The Dunciad, however, the balance may have shifted rather in the direction suggested by Valéry’s remark.
You are right, too, to point out that words unavoidably bring ideas – and indeed ideas about feelings – with them. Nonetheless, poems are made from words and, for me at least, exist only in and through the medium of words, which is why, contra Degas, Valéry’s remark (in fact Mallarmé’s as reported by Valéry) is so valuable.
Clive
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