Linguistic Architecture

The Mexican poet, Octavia Paz writes, “Poetry is made out of the very substance of history and society — language.” If this is true then when we give language form, we also formalize history and society. By writing poetry, we form reality. What this means for our publication, is that poetry, like reality, comes in a huge variety of forms each making and unmaking history and society in unique ways. You might be surprised that form is defined in at least 5 ways. Robert Hass in A Little Book on Form provides these definitions:

· One meaning of form that has currency has the meaning “traditional form,” which usually means the use of rhyme and meter.

· Another meaning is that it refers to one of a number of traditional kinds poems that apply particular rules of composition. As in “the sonnet is a form.”

· Another meaning is “external shape.”

· Another is “the arrangement and relationship of basic elements in a work of art, through which it produces a coherent whole.”

· The way the poem embodies the energy of the gesture of its making.

In Linguistic Architecture we will explore all of these definitions as we study poetic form from the ancient past to the present. There are three main goals for this publication: 1. Explore the exciting histories of poetic forms and their important literary contexts, and; 2. Explore the formal imagination: the “invisible architecture” through which the interaction of form and thought emerge and structure the poem. 3. Learn the skills necessary to read poetry closely, recognize a variety of poetic forms, think critically, conduct research, and communicate your interpretations in writing.