Volume V (2022)
offshoot of inscription-based poetry, which I will discuss at length in Section III. Since
inscription-based poetry is in direct contrast with declamation-based poetry, they are critically
evaluated differently which we o ught to consider. Nowadays, there is a “nearly universal critical
bias against rhyme and meter, especially in university writing programs,” 18 indicating how far-
removed modern poetry has become from its declamation-based predecessor. Most modern
poetry that is regarded highly by journals and programs is free-form or lyrical, but most
importantly disregards the attention to rhythm and meter that was so embedded in older styles.
Declamation-based poetry has identity conditions that are opposite of inscription-based
poetry. Oral poetry is linguistically fluid and mainly depends on adherence to theme, rhyme
pattern, rhythm, and meter. 19 For oral poetry, the experience of the poem is done primarily
through listening. 20 Authorial ownership is rather fluid as well, as works such as The Iliad would
slightly change in theme during different performances and thus become different tokens, yet
somehow, fell under the same abstract type by the same title. Declamation-based poetry can later
be preserved through inscription without ruining the poem, though this means that what is being
inscribed is only one instantiation — thus all oral poetry that is now inscribed as one type is
missing some elements: the various tokens created by each new performance. Though I do not
have an answer, this warrants the question, whether the identity conditions of declamation-based
poetry can no longer be completely realized?
Section III
Ribeiro does a great job of explaining the shift from declamation-based poetry to
inscription-based poetry, but inherent in this shift is a transition in ontological status, of which
18 Ribeiro, 146. 19 Ribeiro, 140. 20 Ribeiro, 146.
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