Do you think poetry needs to have correct grammar?

Question

I dont think so.
Grammar actually takes away from my creative mind.

Answer 1

Only to a certain point. Much of what Shakespeare wrote seems archaic and gramatically obtuse today, but the words still resonate with emotion and power. Provided you don't go overboard and start throwing full stops and commas everywhere then you should be fine. Even something simple like reversing word order from SVO to OVS or vice versa can help no end, even if in the strictest grammatical sense it is wrong. Tenses are also fun to play with, and are often mixed about in poetry.
Grammar, whilst having a good number of hard and fast rules, is an amazingly flexible thing.

Answer 2

It is better if it had, but that is not necessary. What is most important in poetry is what is most conducive to bring about desired affects in the minds and hearts of an audience. It has often been the case that poets contorted, and even distorted, a syntax or normal position of the words within a sentence structure for specific startling, or amusing, affects. It is common in language now to use for instance infinitive split, i.e. ‘to bravely enter a garden full of enchanting airs’, following the famous ‘to boldly go where no one has gone before’ from the opening lines of Star Trek New Generation series. Then in classical literature there is a poetic device called Miltonic Inversion, i.e. to say ‘a morning beautiful and fresh’ instead of more regular ‘a beautiful and fresh morning’. Poets use these and other similar poetic devices all the time. The principle in my view is whatever comes most conveniently with the flow of not only the reasonable argument but also with an overflow of enhanced feelings that a poet would like to convey is not only right but also innovatively additional to the beauty of a language. For that reason all poets are said to have poetic license for their poetic articulations and expressions of a heightened nature by the authority of which they could do whatever they like with the language they use. There however is no denying in the fact that some instances within open domains of human creativity are spectacularly marvelous in the affect they have on the mind.

Answer 3

I think poetry needs to communicate. For me, the best poetry has always been able to go beyond the syntax and grammar of words like an essay would, and get right to a raw emotional truth for me to live with. True, sometimes correct punctuation and grammar can be a help, but it's the communication aspect that matters, and sometimes the grammar would just get in the way. So I guess I'd have to say it depends on the poem as to the best way for it to communicate at the deeper levels...

Answer 4

Grammar...that can be changeable, but only so long as the it is still understandable to a wide audience.
Spelling...a must! Nothing is worse than trying to read anything, not just poetry, and trying to decipher the the words. Spell check is everywhere.
I do agree with the earlier post about the conjunctions also. That is important if you want someone to think you know how to write, or if you just threw some words on paper.

Answer 5

Gosh, & I thought your question was about GRAMMAR. Seems most people didn't quite get it. Of course, you wouldn't want to write: "What school you went"? That stuff? But that isn't at all what you mean, & I'm with you all the way, for what it's worth. I know Gypsy (!) & she has been published, so she's not over the top. This section gives me the creeps. Many of the answers are insulting, ignorant, or gushy. But. I know of a much better place!! A cyber-island where creative people know what creativity IS.

Answer 6

I don't think so, either. In fact, I KNOW this isn't true. Not like prose, poetry must have feeling & voice. The "ungrammatical" (urg) re-arrangement of words can make all the difference in a good, mediocre or bad poem. It's a "liberty" well taken, if wisely--& creatively.

Note: Sorry, Sam, but your examples have nothing to do with grammar, but with spelling. Obviously, "I now that death is coming" makes absolutely no sense at all. You might have used, "Death is coming, I know," or "I know death is coming" or any variation, but "now" just doesn't cut it.

Answer 7

it fairly is not a query which will nicely be spoke back in a short area. Others will propose books that coach the basics of poetry. yet i prefer to propose 2 issues: a million) pass to a e book shop and study the poetry area to locate something that looks helpful. 2) study poetry--from the classics to present day poetry. you will learn by using remark. and ultimately, study all poetry aloud to experience the rhythm, the drumbeat that separates poetry from prose, even in unfastened and sparkling verse.

Answer 8

I think it depends as to who you want to reach with your self-expressions. If the world is to read and comment about a piece, it should be written for the world to read. Most of the world knows and understands grammar.

I myself have issues with the over-use of conjunctions in a piece, as to where others do not even bother. I feel that if you use the proper word meanings in a piece, it continues the flow of the piece, and depending upon the piece, may even make it stronger.

Word Knowledge Example: I now that death is coming - I know death is coming
As the example above shows - correct spelling is here but the understanding of the words is not used. Since "now" is an expression of time and "know" is an expression of knowledge.

Knowledge and understanding of words used and their meanings is important.

Sam

Answer 9

Yes, all poetry needs correct grammar.

Answer 10

In terms of run-ons, dangling participles, punctuation, etc, no, not in poetry. As long as it is understandable. Consistency is the key, in terms of tense, point of view, etc.