“Whoever reads three hundred poems of the T'ang Dynasty will be able to write poetry without a teacher.” So goes an ancient Chinese proverb, which actually led to the compilation of more than one anthology. At various points in Chinese literary history, scholars were inspired by the proverb to try to make their own selection of the three hundred best (or most defining) T'ang poems. Some of these anthologies were very popular books. One of them is presented in its entirety in the link given below.

“The more learned and witty you bee, the more fit to act for Satan will you bee. . . . Take off the fond doting . . . I say bee not deceived by these pompes, empty shewes, and faire representations of goodly condition before the eyes of flesh and blood, bee not taken with the applause of these persons.” - John Cotton

This quote is by a seventeenth-century Puritan named John Cotton, and it goes right to the heart of one of America's biggest problems as a culture. We have a legacy and a tradition of anti-intellectualism, as exemplified recently by Presidential candidate Herman Cain's “we need a leader, not a reader.”

“Mythopoeia” is a word meaning “invented mythology,” as in the mythology of H.P.Lovecraft's fiction or “The Lord of the Rings.” Nothing like mythopoeia could ever have existed in ancient society, because people didn't see themselves as autonomous individuals but as members of collectives such as tribes or nations. It was only right at the beginning of the modern world in the 18^th century, when people were just starting to see themselves as individuals, that mythopoeia began to surface.

One custom that seems almost incredible to anyone from a prosaic culture like ours is poetic improvisation. However, cultures that valued poetry more highly than ours does have often cherished the ability to compose extemporaneous verse, sometimes considering it the defining mark of civilization.

“I saw that I was in the process of making a choice that would end in defeat. By choosing those qualities that were so alien to my own time, I had to give up at the same time the art on which the art of our time rests. I had to paint in defiance of my own era without the protection of the era's superstructure. Briefly put I would paint myself into isolation.”

These are the words of Odd Nerdrum, a modern artist completely out of step with the modern world. I'm writing about him in a blog devoted to poetry because I consider him to be a kindred spirit, and find myself to be deeply in sympathy with his controversial artistic stances.