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Best Languages for Poetry | ||
Tags: Poetry | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| !LH@N Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6821 days ago 487 posts - 531 votes  Speaks: German, Turkish*, English Studies: Serbo-Croatian, Spanish | Message 17 of 29 29 March 2008 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Agreed.
If you look at classical Arabic and Persian poetry, you'll see that those claims are false. Regards, Ilhan 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6665 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 18 of 29 29 March 2008 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just to name a few languages that haven't been mentioned:
Welsh has an outstanding poetic tradition and I think it is probably very hard to write according to the traditional rules of Welsh poetry (Cynghanedd) in other languages. Obviously, Latin and Greek should be mentioned as well. I don't think any language is better suited for poetry than another, but the stylistic forms used depend very much on the language: For example, Latin poetry is often based on the alternation of long and short syllables, but in Spanish this is impossible, because there is no distinction between short and long vowels. Edited by Marc Frisch on 29 March 2008 at 5:08pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 19 of 29 30 March 2008 at 3:32am | IP Logged | ||
That's an interesting way to look at it. Japanese poetry, it seems to me, is based on the rhythm created by specific numbers of syllables in a line, because there are no long or short syllables like in English and Latin, and no stressed symbols like in English or German. Additionally, the language has a rich pool or archaic and historical words to draw on, a grammar that emphasizes thoughts over sentences, and a vocabulary that emphasizes our relationship with nature. As a result, Japanese poems are short and contemplative. Edited by Captain Haddock on 30 March 2008 at 3:35am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tjw Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6139 days ago 53 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French, Persian | Message 20 of 29 30 March 2008 at 10:20am | IP Logged | ||
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In fact I have next to me
"Deutche Gedichte von 1900 bis zur Gegenwart" and there is certainly a massive tradition of innovative poetry in German and French, but the importance of it, and perhaps this is a sad fact, cannot outweigh English, especially in the modernist and post-modernist tradition. There are 60,000 contemporary poets publishing in English in the United States alone, a figure unmatched anywhere else in the world. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Leopejo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6109 days ago 675 posts - 724 votes Speaks: Italian*, Finnish*, English Studies: French, Russian | Message 21 of 29 30 March 2008 at 11:01am | IP Logged | ||
Again not taking part in this debate, but the number of published poets hardly says anything about the quality of "real" poetry, and more about ease of publishing. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| rae0011 Tetraglot Newbie Hong Kong Joined 6368 days ago 10 posts - 15 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, Mandarin, English, SpanishB2 | Message 22 of 29 03 April 2008 at 4:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Poetry is the highest form of language expression and I believe that each language has its own style and beauty. In my opinion, no single language would be better than others. It’s your knowledge in a language and culture could be sufficient enough to appreciate its literature.
Some people said Chinese could be one of the best languages of poetry. To be honest, one has to be very good in Chinese language, history and culture to be able to comprehend them (the same for other languages too). I studied Chinese literature in high school and at that time I was never able to appreciate it (probably due to the way my teacher delivered it I guess). For Chinese poems (written in Ancient Chinese), a good piece of poem has to be in rhythm and with correct intonation, of careful selection of words (say, if the ending word of the sentence is the same as the first word in the next sentence, etc.) and proper use of words (with quoting, simplified historical events, etc.). The word limit is also very rigid. The general rule is to write in ‘5 words in 4 sentences’ or ‘7 words in 4 sentences’. These require very high level of language ability – not only should it sound nice but also look nice! My fave poems are, however, from the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279), the dynasty after Tang Dynasty (618 – 907, when the 300 Tang Poems were written). They are easier than Tang Poems but are beautifully written as well. However, they are lesser known to the world. By the way, I’ve heard that Li Bai, one of the best poets in Chinese history, might have been strongly influenced by local language as he was born in Kyrgyzstan. His free style expression certainly outshined many Chinese poets at his time. I’ve found it really fascinating (if it’s true) that under the influence of a completely different language can really make a good poet :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| poziomka Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 6115 days ago 21 posts - 22 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: Spanish, Hungarian | Message 23 of 29 03 April 2008 at 2:23pm | IP Logged | ||
I may not be an expert but I do know something about American poetry and, apart from a few exceptions, many of the contemporary American poets write in the same way about the same things and sound like copies of themselves. I don't think I would ever want to endure reading poetry of all of these 60,000. (Before anyone jumps up on me, please, bear in mind that it is only my personal opinion ;)) I also do not like the claim that poetry of any country tries to "outweigh" the tradition of English poetry. In my opinion the literature of any nation simply doesn't give a darn about "outweighing" or competing with it. It may be influenced by it, true. But not much more than that. I know very well the history of English literature (that of the USA and that of England) as well as a good deal of English novels, plays and poetry and I would choose Polish literature over it anytime because I find it more passionate and less stiff. Edited by poziomka on 03 April 2008 at 2:27pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6316 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 24 of 29 12 April 2008 at 7:29am | IP Logged | ||
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I know the OP didn't ask for Western poetry, but I must mention Ireland. Poetry written in the Irish language is a very rich tradtion, in fact Irish ltierature is the oldest in Europe after Latin and Greek. Irish poetry goes back to around the 6th century, and is definitely worthy of investigation.
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