Dear Saman Abdulqadir Hussein Dizayi Aside from the fact that technology pervades all walks of our contemporary life, poetry still continues enjoying the position it has acquired from time immemorial. Its validity and aesthetic aspects cannot be overestimated and overlooked on the evidence that technology and poetry are closely associated, especially in the field of digitization of humanities in general and literature in particular. On this, the English poet B.B. Shelley once said " Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted.”

Best regards

Dear Hasan Mohammed Saleh I agree with your opinion but in reality we feel the decline of poetry interest by the generatiin Z unfortunately. It not only makes distorted beautiful but gives meaning to our existence. Thabk you for your interest in the discussion.

Poetry will always find a way. It is our concept of poetry and poetics that will increasingly witness evolvement that there will come a day

(or has it already came?!) when we'll stand before a work and wonder "Is this poetry?!"

Despite the advancement in technology and people's engagement with electronic poetry can not be removed from human existence. Poetry as we all know is the expression of one's feeling either of pain, joy, regrets. With the happening of today there is a lot to be written so poetry come to play. Poetry is something that can not be erased from the world

OMG! I rather see a lot of poetry on line for example in these short videos on YouTube, Facebook etc). I have a Facebook account in which I share my poems with my friends. That wouldn't have been possible pre-social media. ... given the high publishing fees. I think social media has somewhat changed the character of poetry; conflating it with popular culture, creating more avenues for publishing and performance. If I remember well, a poet won Spain Got Talent recently.

Didymus Douanla@ actually you are right when it comes to publishing at social media, but in my opinion great poetry such as The Waste Land or Leaves of Grass disappeared. Regards

I agree with you Saman Dizayi, we always look back at the auld lang syne ...human nature eh?. come to think of it, technology or no techno, it seems no contemporaries can ever write like Homer, Defoe, Shakespeare, Wordsworth etc.

But on the other hand, if you go to the poetry foundation website, for example, you can read, listen and respond to such contemporary poets as Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

poetry never goes out of fashion i believe

The Question could be, does poetry occupy the same place as it was before? and the answer is , of course not... simply because of the various and many great means of expression that swarm the modern world. That is the reason why people feel the decline of poetry

In the USA at least, poetry slams have done a lot to keep poetry vital as an oral tradition. Print is not the whole story by any means. Another example: Ken Nordine, who just died at age 98, put out sound recordings of "word jazz" accompanied by jazz musicians, which was highly popular and compelling. Check out his Wikipedia (English language) entry.

Check this out in regard to American poetry:

https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/25/living/poetry-dead-poet-laureate-herrera-feat/index.html

Also, for other discussions:

https://www.google.com/search?q=poetry+slams+still+happening+and+vital%3F&oq=poetry+slams+still+happening+and+vital%3F&aqs=chrome..69i57.11415j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Then the means and ways of expressing poetry changed, social media and digitalization affect the style, techniques and themes. May be the time of the appearence of great poets like Eliot, Baudlaire.... etc. vanished. May be there will be great poets with fond readers but actually it could be something completely different with what we used to.

Certainly the oral slam poetry/rap trend can be more communal, as with the oral traditions of many cultures ancient and modern, Reading poetry in books is great, but it is solitary and contemplative rather than dynamic. I do not say one is better than the other at all -- but poetry is certainly alive. The oral is more interactive and thwarts establishing a literary canon and is not great for those like me who like to be ablie to write essays about writers. :) Video of slams however could bring criticism back into the mix.

Poetry will survive in a different look

Those who are concerned with the delivery of poetry, rather than 'reading poetry in books' might be interested to know that W.B. Yeats tried an experiment to return poetry to the oral tradition,with his friend the actress Florence Farr, who 'chaunted' poems to an instrument made by Arnold Dolmetsch. This experiment continued for some time and has been admirably discussed by Ron Schuchard in Yeats Annual 2.

This method was an attempt to restore poetry to an oral culture to those who listened collectively 'friend by friend, lover by lover', undivided by book culture.

Later on Yeats tried to recreate this oral tradition on the radio, ('Poet's Pub')a dire catastrophe in his recollection. He was not a particularly good reader of his own, but composed poetry by humming to himself, 'buzzing like a bumble bee' according to a friend.

Still poetry is a space for controversy

Of course, poetics will always occupy an important place in culture, especially in times of social upheaval, because it can articulate trends, hopes, desires and destructions on an aesthetic level.

Poetry: is it valid in the contemporary world!?

I think poetry is still relevant despite in this contemporary world that pursue various technology advancements. Reason being:

That's why we still have those classic poetry still be remembered or recited.

I agree with you @ Hein Retter, thanks for your contribution

Han Ping Fung thank you for your interest in the question, it is true, still there is space for poetry despite technology

In order to avoid becoming redundant, poetry must focus more and more on its own mechanics of production and articulation so that one line of a poem is equal to, or more than, pages of prose.

Nazir Ali, yes it should change the way of presenting, style and creativity specially techniques to coupe with contemperary advancements.

Dear Saman:

I think that the advent of personal electronic devices has made it easier for short literary texts to circulate among the masses, as modern human beings have less and less time to devote to reading. So, although the novel seems to have lost its original popularity, I thing poetry stands a better chance for its brevity.

The other, more important issue, however, is that now there are just too many people claiming to be poets (or refusing the label while they try to write supposedly poetic texts) but the product is far beneath the level of insight and innovation that we would expect from strong literature. And I believe it is mostly because they generally don't know what constitutes good art. After all, if you try to discuss that with them, they'll accuse you of being backward, narrow-minded or oppressive just because they can't define aesthetic principles for what they do. People should realize that art isn't just arbitrary, it's like any other craft, not everybody can produce art.

I am not quite sure that digitalization has had a tremendous effect on poetry. Poetry has of course gone online and the kind of small press which used to promote poetry has now been taken up by ejournals and ezines, etc. I would say this has only helped in the dissemination of poetry. It is indisputable that we live by language. So long as we tend to think of poetry as that particular space in which language is put to its best possible use in the most innovative of ways, poetry will survive. In fact, it will remain one of the domains unaffected by robotic reproductions, keeping it distinctly human.

Poetry is always important, independent of time.

Indeed, poetry is still important, this day.

Feeling of Spring

Soul in harmony

Cloudiness behind me

Blue sky my destiny;

Heart of roses

Grace adding melodies

Deep silence leaving me

Soft songs my symphony;

Whisper of love

Smiles from eternity

Happiness reaching me

Beauty and Serenity.

I think that poetry is the last resort of humanity in this era of technological dehumanisation.

Very well said, @Vadim. Poetry has a specificity, the smell of the soil so to speak, making it virtually untranslatable. In spite of this, you will find poetry indeed gets translated and quite readably so. How else an Indian like me can enjoy and appreciate Mayakovsky and Akhmatova? Perhaps you may say I appreciate them for all the wrong reasons, but I'd think my poetic experience is incomplete without reading them, even if it is in translation.

@Wolfgang Indeed, one of the frequently-quoted remarks of Wordsworth, which has received quite a few hard knocks from Eliot, but a harmless truism now. Poetry is presumed to be much more than feelings now, giving it a hard-edged intellectuality. Its spontaneity has also become a questionable virtue.

Pound made that famous haiku new, for sure, since it does not follow the classical 5-7-5 form-- though the second of the two lines does have 7 syllables.

Here are 4 haiku of mine that adhere to the classical form:

Before it descends

the dusk’s wind lifts a red leaf –

black when the sun sets.

Some young March spiders

creep from the drooping foliage

among their elders.

Dead Lincoln's pension:

two wintry coins over eyes

which have borne interest.

Epitaphs chiseled

in tombstones toppled by age

catch rain for spring birds.

My counter maxim for a poem's creation would be "Make it work." Make the words evoke thoughts, images, epiphanies AND reflection. There many methods to make a poem work. Vikram Seth wrote a novel in verse, The Golden Gate, in iambic pentameter, which is one of the best works of poetry AND narrative of all time.

After all, don’t you agree that the time of great poets has gone. We are not expecting again poets like Shelley, Pound, T.S.Eliot, Mayakovisky etc.

Thank you @Dr Schwarz for reminding me those memorable lines of Pound which I believe can be found in his essay "A Retrospect," a compendium of do's and don't's to aspiring poets. "Emotional and intellectual complex" has its echoes in Eliot's own essay on the metaphysical poets in which he credits Donne with the ability to fuse thought and sensation. And to go back to the query raised by @Dr Saman, poetry is the only vehicle which offers a synthesis of this kind making it very relevant to contemporary times which insists on keeping them apart.I think the individual is made whole by poetry.

@Dr Vadim Gorshkov Thank you for your valuable insights into translation and translators who can make or mar the reputation of an author. We live in times when translators no longer accept their passive and slavish relationship to the source text but insist on their visibility. I read Mayakovsky rendered in English by a Russian translator when Soviet Russia flooded friendly countries like India with their tranlated texts of Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Gorky and Mayakovsky in affordable editions when books by Penguin and Random could be pricey. I forgot the name of the translator.

Dr. Dizayi, I do not agree that the time of great poets is gone. I am not a fan of retrospective canonization of the earlier poets, although I love their works. I think there are and always will be great poets, but also that "expectation" is not congruent with the self-regenerating essence of the poetic impulse. Originality and universal vitality is an indestructible and ineradicable impulse of imagination and spirit. Poems or indeed any literary creations must be read intensely as if no other work ever existed. Sometimes by doing this we get a speck of gold, sometimes a mother-lode IMO. Respectfully, Jim.

When guns become toys

And innocence stolen,

When violence is a big joy

And kindness forgotten,

The tears will be very warm.

When money controls minds

No charity and no mercy,

When souls become blind

Not feeling Eternity,

The prayers will be very loud.

When love is only physical

And hearts like stones,

When the sky becomes unusual

And nature forever gone,

The story…… must be told.

Sailing with my true blue friend,

Every wave was a new lesson to learn

Every storm, a new chapter to open;

Listening to its deep voice,

Every story was a reverie to follow

Every silence a whisper of love;

Guided by the wind of my destiny,

Every voyage was a new sail to make

Every departure calmed my soul;

Following the gull of my dream,

Every sea was a new season in my life

Every horizon a place to seek the answer;

Searching for the painter of my soul,

Every fisherman was asked for guidance

The happy one gave me the wisdom;

Escorted by the light of my heart,

Every island was a new treasure to uncover

Every discovery a color to my rainbow.

Feeling of spring,

Soul in harmony

Cloudiness behind me

Blue sky my destiny;

Heart of Roses,

Grace adding melodies

Deep silence leaving me

Soft songs my symphony;

Whisper of Love,

Smiles from Eternity

Happiness reaching me

Beauty and Serenity.

花 賑 春

見 や き

と か ざ

き な す

町

Feeling of Spring (Harukizasu)

Lively town (Nigiyakana machi)

Time to watch flowers. ( Hanami toki)

雪 静 煙

降 か 立

り な つ

ぬ 村

に

Smoke rising (kemuri tatsu)

In a quiet village (shizukana mura ni)

The snow was falling (yuki furinu)

Poetry is a comlete representation.

This is my small poetry book for those who are interested :

Preprint THE HAPPY FISHERMAN

LOST SHEEP

You are The One

And divisions in Your Name,

You are The Peace

And wars are everywhere.

You are the Creator

And killings in Your Name,

You are The Merciful

And hate is everywhere.

You are The Pardoner

And judgments in Your Name

You are The Guiding Light

And lost sheep everywhere.

Yes, poetry is always necessary to pepole especially today. Famous Montengrin poet Njegoš said: Voice of the poets is heaven influence.

Yes and oral epic poets in the Balkans allowed Milman and Parry to formulate their oral-formulaic formula for the composition of the Homeric epics.

Forget yesterday

Dream for the better

Follow your heart

And smile again.

Kindness opens doors

Love offers wings

Smiles draw rainbows.

I always write my own poems on the occasion of larger family affairs. These are valuable memories. I think there are talents for that.

Poetry is always valid. Especially in our pragmatic epoch.

Poetry has a nature beauty of words describing the nature with it poetic significance covering also our universal with all the glamour consisting of the humanity . It is in this line poetic cannot be mixed up with any other areas with has a significance part of the man ,material & finance .

Let the poetry has its own flag .

This is my personal opinion

Of course!

I believe poetry is always valuable, poetry is unperishable, and I love reading and writing poetry...

Poetry sends truth in economic,beautiful and deep meaning. It declares fact vividly to the readers in the world.

Fadi Habash, thank you for your contribution

a wonderful question, and I should like to say threee times, yes, of course!

I tend to repeat my statemen., Okay, I'm sure, I guess. But more interesting is always when someone contradicts.

"Truth matters - it's the ONLY thing that matters"

Ipso Facto:

When poetry illuminates a truth.....

Poetry both lures Alice in Wonderland's white rabbit down the rabbit hole and follows the rabbit down. There are so many rabbit holes into other worlds. In poetry everything, even the most mundane things, are surreal.

That we still consider poetry to be justified and to offer it a spacious place in the lives of today's people is one thing; but that poetry has lost its past position as the narcosis or hope of humankind in this material world and can be replaced day by day with technology and material culture, is another topic. On the one hand, most people who have answered this question have nothing against poetry. On the other hand, they may not read as many poems as academic articles and essays (apart from whether they write their own or not!). The present world, with its increasing materialism and enjoyment of it, seeks to humiliate, reduce, and offer a worthless place to the role of poetry in the life of humanity, rather, to eliminate it.

But I still believe in the continued existence of poetry, it grows like a beautiful flower, sometimes slower, sometimes faster, and one day the future generations will either admire the poetic emptiness of this age and draw their consequences from it by reporting it and analyzing this tastelessness!

There is still much to discuss poetry's position in a technology-driven world! Technology has not affected the reading itself, because thanks to the Internet and smartphones, tablets, etc., many people can now read online and everywhere (on the go), only the way of reading is different, especially because one no longer or very rarely reads poetic books/poetry, but rather news, weather forecasting, and in the best case specialist texts. After all, there is still this absolute minority of poems (the poetry lovers!) And it will continue to exist, hopefully!

"The task of the poet, in a world full of loud lies, to say what is irreducibly true in a level voice.'' Zbigniew Herbert, one of the greatest Polish poets.

For more, read for example:

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/29/arts/zbigniew-herbert-73-a-poet-who-sought-moral-values.html

Rap and slam poetry qualify in our culture and have been immensely popular, though perhaps disdained by established Poetry venues. Jim Morrison regarded himself as a poet. Homer played the lyre to the Iliad, they say. Poetry will never die, but audiences will vary greatly in size and receptivity. I do not see a wide general audience for the late John Ashbery, not as much so as for Billy Collins or Langston Hughes. That's show biz. :)