I need assistance defining this term. Is there an accurate definition? I have seen examples (JFK's inaugural speech was the example used) but what is the actual idea or correct understanding of the term?

Was JFK's inaugural speech used as an example of poetry? I haven’t seen it printed as a poem. It was oratory containing phrases that resonated with the audience. You could say the same about some of Churchill's wartime speeches. If your definition of poetry is wide enough to include such oratory, I can't say you are wrong. Only that your definition is wider than mine, and I prefer to distinguish between poetry and oratory. Admittedly the line is sometimes blurred. Marc Antony’s funeral speech in ‘Julius Caesar’ is blank verse poetry, and a powerful oration.

I haven’t heard of ‘power poetry’ as a genre. I doubt whether the term is used widely enough to have acquired any generally accepted meaning. Googling it brings up surprisingly few examples, and those show different meanings. For example:

- to name a creative writing class activity apparently designed by a teacher, bless her sweet heart, to recruit her pupils to her anti-establishment political views;

[tinyurl.com]

- to describe one of the many elements of fine oratory studied in a course on rhetoric;

[tinyurl.com]

- to describe a poetry reading of such style and content that it moved an audience to donate generously to a phoneathon fund raiser.

[tinyurl.com]

If you want a definition of the term, you are probably going to have to write your own !

Ian

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2006 01:53AM by IanB.

I've seen or heard nothing that indicates that "power" poetry is a genre of its own. But if powerful prose qualifies as "poetry" then this speech by Martin Luther King would fit into that genre: [www.mecca.org] />
Les

The term does not appear in my copy of the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry. The link below purports to be the entire inaugural address mentioned at the start of the topic. Is there any poetry in it at all? Much less power poetry, that is.

[www.bartleby.com] />
I didn't check all the 10,400 responses from Google on the term, but the ones I did check failed to identify such a concept.

[tinyurl.com] />
May one respectfully suggest that whoever gave the assignment to Ms Chapple is creating a neologism?

Impotence poetry, now that term actually does exist:

"I've got a small problem that's awfully
Disturbing to mention, Miss Boffleigh;
Now you've gotten undressed
It's time I confessed
I'm impotent," whispered Tom softly.

Well, at least I know that my inability to find this via the Google search engine wasn't just due just to my poor research skills.

At the moment, we are discussing this as part of a public speaking assignment and

"oratory containing phrases that resonated with the audience" as well as the Marc Anthony mention is really helpful.

I will take a look at the other stuff when I get a chance as well as this link

...to describe one of the many elements of fine oratory studied in a course on rhetoric;

I should have asked you guys earlier - really thanks. Impotence poetry is just too much information.

Powerful speeches brings this one to mind: [showcase.netins.net] />
Les

Another great source for powerful oratory comes from the man himself:

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

--From Macbeth (V, v, 19)

=======================================================================================
William Shakespeare
Hamlet:

To be, or not to be : that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

Les

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2006 04:39PM by lg.

Impotence poetry, now that term actually does exist.

It does; but alas, Googling it reveals its existence to be as a lure to sites flogging viagra and cialis and other remedies. No poetry there that I could find, let alone anything remotely approaching the quality of Hugh's composition.

Good genre idea though! As Virgil wrote:

'Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt'

[roughly: There are tears at the heart of things, and mortal failings cut to the heart.]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2006 04:22AM by IanB.

Powerful speeches brings this one to mind: [showcase.netins.net]

Les, I once read a parody of Lincoln's Gettysburg address that was word for word identical to the original, save for the addition of a four word sentence at the end: 'Have a nice day'.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2006 04:27AM by IanB.

a course on rhetoric ...

For more than anyone could ever hope to retain on rhetoric, see:

[humanities.byu.edu] />

I never fail to learn something - but mostly I learn how much I don't know. As you usual I will return from time to time to read over your shoulders. Please, au moins, use 12 font. Thanks,

I don't know about Internet explorer, but with my browser, mozilla firefox, you can increase the font size yourself. If that is what you mean...

Right. Using Mozilla, as I am now, merely holding down control key while clicking the plus sign makes fonts larger. With Internet Explorer, I had to click View then Text Size then pick larger or smaller.

AOL, and Netscape, are similar in function to Internet Explorer. I use all 3 from time to time. But each has a different size font, depending on the website. So certain webistes' font may appear larger on one browser than another. My AOL browser, for instance, makes the Yahoo home page appear larger, while my Netscape browser makes the E-mule web page appear larger without resetting the font size.

Les

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2006 01:08PM by lg.