Expression

I wrote this at the beginning of the semester... and right now, I'm not so sure about the validity of my statements... but I thought I'd post this for comment.

In response to the question "What is the Poetry Language?"

The language of poetry is, in effect, the sub-language of emotion and music that is contained within a previously existing language. Poetry, lyrically, and formatically, just sounds right—the words, formatting and language of poems are aesthetically and musically appealing. Because poetry is contained within a language, it is often very subtle and dormant in the life of the individual and is only “awakened” (or developed) through almost imperceptive experiences within the parent language. The poetic language is present in every society and culture; for whatever reason, humans seem to be hardwired to appreciate and develop the sounds which we are capable of making beyond pure meaning. Humans have developed a linguistic system for pure meaning, that of the literal, parent language, which is bound by grammatical structure, punctuation, spelling, subject agreement and syntax as well as the predicate content of the statements which are said. Nevertheless, humans have also developed a linguistic system of expression, that of the metaphorical, daughter language, which often rebels against the rules and forms of the parent language. The poetry language is a language of pure expression.

Expression is a funny concept. When I express myself in every day conversation, I address the people with whom I am talking with sentences that have a specific structure and meaning, yet, these sentences often seem to be misunderstood. Is there really any literal meaning left in the English language? I am not sure that there is. Perhaps it is a matter of the language losing the strict guidelines on the forms of sentences. Sentences used to be written only with clear and distinct predicates and a pre-determined structure. Take into account the differences between this statement: all bachelors are unmarried men, and this statement: all bachelors are happy. The meaning of the first statement is clear. It is absolutely analytic. The predicate is the definition of the subject and vice versa. The second sentence, however, is beyond pure meaning. A gap in the language must be bridged in order to understand the sentence much less prove the validity of such a sentence. Because, really, how do we define "happy" or "love" or any other abstract, synthetic concept?

Meaning, for such synthetic concepts, comes from the interpretation of the word in question. "Happy" is such a word; as is "love"; as is "beauty"; all are concepts and are contingent upon individual perception. Perhaps perception, then, is what dictates the meaning of a synthetic concept. Because synthetic concepts cannot be reduced to analytic components, i.e. universal predicate truths, it must be the case that the meaning(s) of such synthetic concepts are determined by an element of perception, i.e. empirical experience.

How does a rational human being gain knowledge of the meaning of synthetic concepts? By experiencing them through perception. Perception is a door to the misunderstanding of synthetic concepts. This is why communication has become so difficult. This is also why expression is so necessary.

With two distinct sub-languages within every parent language, the rational, logical language of meaning, and the poetic language of expression, all synthetic concepts and all analytical concepts are necessarily defined or determined. Because synthetic concepts are misunderstood when using the logical langauge meant only for analytical statements and forulaic proof structure, the poetic language becomes an important medium for expression.

Meaning, in the poetic language, is determined distinctly upon the free expression of emotion. Pure emotion, in this language, is exactly the same as pure reason, i.e. pure logic, in the language of logic. Expression is essential, here, because our synthetic statements do not hold valid when trying to use analytical logical structure of language. It is necessarily true that poetic expression is the only medium which can successfully help determine the meaning of synthetic concepts. And that is why it is so important to be able to freely express yourself. Without expression, we would have no way of understanding synthetic statements or non-determinate predicates.

This is expression.