The Model for All Art
January 25, 2008
from Poetry:
…in “The Origin of the Work of Art,” he issues a particular invitation to poets, arguing that poetry is in some way the model for all other art forms, and the exemplary activity of human beings. The poet, he writes, “uses the word—not, however, like ordinary speakers and writers who have to use them up, but rather in such a way that the word only now becomes and remains truly a word.” Like Emerson, that is, Heidegger regards poetry as the truest form of language, and most language as merely defective poetry. “The nature of poetry,” he goes so far as to declare, “is the founding of truth.”
To understand exactly what Heidegger means by this numinous formula, it’s necessary to sketch his complex argument.
A very interesting look and not nearly as off-putting as the idea of discussing poetry, poetics, art, and Heidegger sounds to most people…
Tags:
aesthetics, creativity, poetics, poetry
All me-stream all the time.
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January 25th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
While there are many aesthetic elements in poetry that may be said to be foundational to other arts, the one that I’ve always seen as worthy of emulation is the economy of (in this case) language. When this economy is transferred to any art form, it often equates to pure potency.
I say often because immediately after I make a statement, I contradict myself, and I just thought of Tarkovsky’s fims, particularly Nostalghia, which is potent less for economy and more for the liberality of its shots and sequences (though perhaps that too is an economy).