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Poetry and Prose
The Simple Facts Telling stories is the core and primary form of communication either written or oral. The form of a story contains not only the subject and predicate (what about the subject) but the intention or purpose for making the communication in the first place. The purpose, although implied in the communication is not necessarily visible in the words which is why linguists and grammarians missed this most important element and having failed to identify it, therefore give it no importance. Poetry and Prose Poetry The conventions of rhyme and meter associated with "poetry" (or more appropriately the poetic style of storytelling) were created and developed by bards, minstrels, recounters, shamans and priests for a very simple reason; it was easier to remember the story that way. And storytellers of all descriptions had to rely on memory for a long time before written language evolved. And even after "writing" was invented it was a very long time before writing and reading reached down to the lower classes which comprised the bulk of the storytellers. Long before man learned how to write, telling stories was a completely oral tradition. And then just to add a little more interest to the telling, music was added as an accompaniment. Hence the invention of the song. Which is easy to understand if we consider a song as a poem set to music. So, the core is communication, which consists of expressing a complete thought about something. That thought consists of a subject and what about that subject or what grammarians call the "predicate". This we were taught comprises a complete sentence. However there is one other very important element that our English teachers left out of our lessons; simply because the Linguists left it out of their considerations regarding language. The missing element is the reason for the communication in the first place. This is the single idea or thought that comes before the words are selected to form the sentences. Behind those words and sentences is a purpose that the speaker had for wanting to communicate to his audience in the first place. His purpose for communicating and what he is communicating are two separate however related things. Simply put; first there is an intention and then the words. The intention is the underlying purpose for the communication and what the linguists and our English teachers failed to mention. While concentrating on just the words they missed what is arguably the most important part of the whole deal. The single word that best expresses this purpose is the word "Premise". Poetry and Prose The Premise is the Purpose for the communication While one could assume that the purpose is simply to convey an idea – that falls short of the mark. Because the speaker is communicating with the intent of causing something. His purpose is to cause the audience (the receiver of the communication) to do something with and therefore because of the communication. Communication is not just about passing information from speaker to listener. The purpose of the communication is to get the listener to DO SOMETHING with the information or idea. While grammar tells us that the expression of a complete thought (called a "sentence") consists simply of "subject" and "predicate" there is a third element that has not been addressed – intention. Poetry and Prose The Intention of the Speaker Because we find that a "story" does not consist of only two parts. At the most fundamental level a complete story must have three parts. The fundamental structure of a story is; a Premise, Arguments/Proofs, and a Conclusion. The word "premise" best describes the concept of the speaker's intention for the communication. Poetry and Prose Premise and Logic Logic was a good "idea" however (like many good ideas) it evolved into a dogs-breakfast of complexity and confusion and as such I wouldn't advise anyone dive into it as a subject. The main problem that the Greeks (thanks to Aristotle) stumbled over and never resolved and which ultimately rendered the subject of Logic doomed as a failed method of thinking was "absolutes". Aristotle introduced the idea of a two valued logic system – known even to this day as "Aristotelian Logic". This system holds that everything is defined in only two values; such as "right/wrong", "hot/cold", "Yes/No", etc. Poetry and Prose The Failure of Aristotelian Logic For over 2,000 years Western philosophers struggled with Aristotle's logic system trying to use it to figure things out – and failed. Poetry and Prose Infinity Valued Logic With "infinity valued logic" instead of Yes/No We have: Yes----------------------------------------------------------No With the line representing an infinite number of gradations between any two extremes. What has this to do with poetry and stories? Everything. This infinity valued logic allows us to see the structure of communication, whether that communication is in the style of poetry or prose. Because we can now see that all communication consists of three elements. Premise ----------- (Arguments/Proofs) -------------- Conclusion The above is the basic structure of all forms of communication. This applies to stories, poems, songs etc. We now have these three components to add to our nomenclature as storytellers. Poetry and Prose Premise – the point we wish of make with our communication and the purpose for making it. Story – the structure of that communication seen as: Style - of the communication see as a gradient scale between:
With these concepts clearly understood we can begin to understand the subject of writing fiction and its purpose of communication through the telling of stories. Poetry and Prose Write on... Richard A. McCullough
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