Tag: writing

We jump from English to Portuguese poetic theory and observe a contrast. In English, rhythmic regularity is valued, when it seems Portuguese theorists agree that variety gives dynamism to poems and is, therefore, preferable to avoid “monotony”. The curious thing is that the latter do not suspect that there is no rhythm without regularity and end up fatally praising the rhythm of poems that do not have it. Any sentence spoken in any language will have an intonation, or a “cadence” of its own when analyzed individually. Poetry, however, arranges phrases in such a way that there is a harmonious link between them, a link determined by rhythm. If, from one verse to the next, everything changes, there can be no rhythm in the composition, unless one makes a creative and non-musical use of this word.

It is laughable the lack of creativity of these screenwriters who, when portraying a writer, must necessarily describe a period in which he experiences the much discussed, romanticized and ridiculous “creative block”. All professionals in all areas have processes, methods, a work system that allows them to obtain results despite mood and creative swings; except, of course, this stupid writer, who insists on sitting down every day in front of a white canvas, with absolutely nothing planned. It is regrettable to say it but, unfortunately, this so-called “creative block” simply does not exist for professional writers. Sitting in front of a blank canvas is just amateurism; and the professional writer who does so is just acting like an amateur. It does not take much experience to realize that the process of devising plots, chapters, and poems can largely be carried out away from the desk, in a relaxed, sometimes more favorable environment. It does not take much experience, either, to realize it is easier to execute a plan than to make it from scratch and then execute it. No, no… it is needed to keep representing the writer as a beast, who stubbornly sits down every day to solve all problems at once, the writer who sits down and waits for an angel to come down from heaven and guide his hand… What a joke!

The truth is that making good verses is difficult: it requires precision, patience, elevation of ideas… whereas, to make so-called good verses, an affinity is enough. It happens that being exotic, in poetry, is sometimes captivating; sometimes the technical novelty amuses and even impresses; however, after a few pages, it ceases to impress and the places inhabited by the creative mind become evident. If there is no ingenuity, if there is no greatness, if there is no depth, if the verses boil down to playfulness and futility, all of this becomes impossible to hide.

The modern poet, adept at the fashionable practices of exterminating punctuation, altering the spelling, ignoring capital letters, drawing with letters, repeating words exhaustively, etc., etc., has to concentrate very hard not to pass for a child or, in more serious cases, for a mental retard. How just a few pages are enough to make one sick of such gimmicks! Then we are left to wonder: what else? Often, we have to conclude that they are nothing more than disguises for an inability to work words in a dynamic and interesting way, showing mastery and making creative use of the resources offered by the language. We end up reflecting on what the Latinists repeat so often, and it seems that intelligence is related to the ability to articulate language…