Volume V (2022)
inscription-based versus declamation-based poetry? For the first question, it seems that this
depends on whether the token is declamation-based or inscription-based. If a poem is
declamation-based, then it can be much more linguistically fluid. Word order is non-essential
compared to the importance of maintaining the rhythm, meter, rhyme patterns, and theme
embedded in the original token. 15 If the poem is inscription-based, then the answer is more
complicated. For inscription-based poetry, maintaining the same word order is an identity
condition for having the same work, and therefore yes, all reproductions should have the same
word order unless it is explicitly mentioned in the reproduction that it does not. As most modern
poetry is inscription-based, this requirement does feel quite strict taking translations into
account. Furthermore, in cases where an outdated or discriminatory phrase is changeschanged
for ease of understanding or respect, these alterations could likely be acceptable. Given that
inscription-based poetry is the main poetic form currently, it feels necessary to ease up on
certain identity conditions, as certain degree of ease allows new forms to develop.
Approaching the second question, identity conditions for inscription-based poetry are
complicated, as I have alluded to. However, this tradition finds its basis in a dependence on
opposing all the identity conditions of declamation-based poetry. Since inscription-based poetry
is currently the main poetic form, the identity conditions cannot be so strict that the form cannot
evolve. It seems that inscription- based poems should require the poet’s consent to change
something if they are still alive, 16 and the poem should be regarded as mind-independent of the
poet who is not necessarily equivalent to the speaker. For this category, the experience of the
poem is done through reading. 17 As inscription-based poetry holds such a monopoly over
modern poetry, we will have to accept in-between categories such as spoken-word poetry as an
15 Ribeiro, 140. 16 This idea is credited to Sherri Irvin, as she d iscusses in “The Artist’s Sanction in Contemporary Art . ” 17 Ribeiro, 146.
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