Ars Poetica

In no other field of visual or written art can you create a "how-to" or a "how-it-should-be" piece without it being boring. Essays telling the reader how things should be written come off as plain and unexciting, and are often aggressive and commanding over the reader. And though I've never seen one, I can only imagine a painting that is suppose to show people how to paint would either be extremely primary or would not even be able to get across the idea to the viewer. However, when it comes to poetry, "Ars Poetica" are able to represent a perfect example to the reader without compromising its style or substance. I'm interested to see how different author's styles affect the idea of ars poetica poems, and am interested to see which style communicates its message the best.
While it wasn't quite a poem, I think our reading for last class, T.S. Eliot's "Tradition and the Individual Talent," points out some valuable pieces of information when it comes to writing poems. The biggest point that I took out of the reading was something that I believe a lot of poets strive for, but only ends up hurting their work - the poet trying to impress their own feelings on the reader, rather than trying to have the reader create the emotion themselves. This is a key aspect in my mind, and definitely something to keep handy when writing my next poem.