Science or Art, IP, abab Options

[jgdittier]

Is poetry a science or an art,
its form an inmate's solitary state,
enchained by prose's flavor, naught but tart,
encased in walls of brick or solid slate?

When wisdom rules as commeth forth from mind;
if crystal hard, a mold, no choice allows.
Behold, we've verse of scientific kind,
less choice for guffaws, nor for laughs and howls.

If verse is art, the poet then is free
to entertain us any way his muse
can choose, like Charlie on "Berg's" knee,
and none of Milton's methods man may lose.

May bards e'er be the forces to elate,
humanity's approach to verse, sublime
and pray our minds we vow to never sate
and lose these joys we nurse with beat and rhyme.

note "Berg's" =Edgar Bergin, ventriloquist/humorist,
Charlie McCarthy was his dummy

[jgdittier]

Dear James,
How nice of you to ask this question as it's a excuse to restate my quest (see "quills" to read my latest as to my quest).
Please for a moment promote me to the rank of English professor and assume that I am grading and commenting on "Science or Art" which has been submitted as an acedemic exercize.
My responses are in soft, thick red pencil.

s1l2-"inmate" appears too vague, no basis has been laid as to why
this word applies here
s2l1-"commeth" is both archaic and suggests its usage only to maintain the cadence
s2l2-words are inverted for the purpose of an end rhyme with "howls", howls not a suitable word to be used at all, especially in a rhyme
s2l3-"we,ve",contractions should be avoided
s3l3-efforts should be taken to avoid demeaning Mr. Bergin by trivializing his name
s3l4-excessive alliteration detracts from the seriousness of the piece
s4l1-sees2l3
s3l3-"sate" misused in verb form and a split infinitive
general-the meter is consistantly iambic pentameter, suggesting the possibility that the verse could be embellished by prudent deviations from the constant repetition.
general-there might well be a question as to why the student didn't
emphasize message by avoiding the constraints of R&R
I wouldn't be surprised if the prof included a note requiring the student to meet with the prof such that the prof could remind
the student that now is not the 1700's.

Cheers,    jgd