Poetry: The Art of Play

Action and creativity within a specific role serve as a base definition for all 90 definitions associated with the word “play” of the English language. We see these three aspects as a child plays, discovering new schemas by which to interact with his world and find where he belongs through role play. The poet analyzes words and sounds as the child plays with blocks and gravity; the poet discovers new venues of communication while the child discovers basic physics. Play serves five main purposes in poetry and life: To recreate observances, to find new solutions, to explore roles of self and others, to work within a set of rules, and to imagine. By “playing with language,” poets achieve a variety of purposes, from preserving heritage, to spurring social reform; each poet plays with in his own means. But what separates poetry from other creative forms of language?  The partition of poetry is the content communicated; that content is obscure.