Olson, Charles. "Projective Verse".

Summary

Introduction

The essay contrasts the traditional non-projective verse (or, closed verse), which is the kind of verse bred by press, and the new projective verse (or, open verse), which should become the mode of the future. The new verse form is characterized as prospective, projective, and percussive. Projective verse uses composition by field, as opposed to the inherited line, stanza, and over-all form.

Principles

1. As to the kinetics, it must transfer the same amount of energy from the poet through the poem to the audience.

2. As to the principle, form must never be more than an extension of content.

3. As to the process, one perception must immediately and directly lead to a further perception.

Composition

Projective verse is based on the possibilities of breath. The poet must register both the acquisitions of his ear and the pressures of his breath. Rime and metre should be less in forefront of the mind than the syllable. The two halves of a poem are the syllable, born from the head by the way of the ear, and the line, born from the heart by the way of the breath. The syllable and the line together make a poem.

Restrictions

Rhetorical devices must be used carefully. Simile is to be avoided. Descriptive functions are to be watched so that they should not drain on the energy of the poem. Any slackness takes off attention. The law of the line is superior to tenses, syntax, and grammar generally.

Comments

The essay points out with appreciation the pioneering works of Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. It does not appreciate the Romantic poets, John Milton, or T. S. Eliot. It recommends the use of various spacing to indicate breath, e.g. an indented line means hold breath for the duration of the indention.