Approaching the Analogion

Against "art for art's sake"

An analogion: used by chanters in the divine services of the Orthodox Christian tradition

Silver Door provides weekly original poems along with posts about poetry and its place in the digital age

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The idea of "art for art’s sake" has always repulsed me.

Edgar Allan Poe, in his essay The Poetic Principle (in which he also argues convincingly that a long poem will never be popular again) writes:

We have taken it into our heads that to write a poem simply for the poem's sake, and to acknowledge such to have been our design, would be to confess ourselves radically wanting in the true poetic dignity and force: — but the simple fact is, that, would we but permit ourselves to look into our own souls we should immediately there discover that under the sun there neither exists nor can exist any work more thoroughly dignified — more supremely noble than this very poem — this poem per se — this poem which is a poem and nothing more — this poem written solely for the poem's sake.

Poe writes against what he calls “the heresy of The Didactic,” and he makes a strong case which I reject, though with a few qualifications that I don’t have time to get into here. He continues:

The demands of Truth are severe. She has no sympathy with the myrtles. All that which is so indispensable in Song, is precisely all that with which she has nothing whatever to do.

Juxtapose this to "A Midnight Song to the Theotokos," taken from my prayer book:

I sing thy grace, O Lady, and beseech thee: grant grace to my mind. Teach me to walk aright on the path of Christ’s commandments. Strengthen me to keep watch with song, dispelling the torpor of sleep.

Song (Poetry) is serving a definite purpose here.

Unlike Poe, I believe Truth is a person, the Beautiful Shepherd (often translated in English as the Good Shepherd) who seeks out the lost sheep. Like Poe, I believe the demands of Truth are severe, but that which is so indispensable in Song is also precisely that which He has everything to do with.

For the Orthodox Church, Song is the primary method by which we convey our theology. My good friend, a psaltis (cantor), once told me through email: “our music is the service - it is not a nice addition to the service. The service does not exist without the music.”

After years of thinking and experimenting with orality within the poetic Western tradition, I’m delighted and grateful to have the opportunity to attend the Liturgical Arts Academy in South Carolina tomorrow for a weeklong “boot camp” in Byzantine Chant.

I’ve been talking with an Orthodox friend and fellow poet recently about the difficulty of placing oneself as an Orthodox Christian within the inherited poetic tradition here in the West. How that play out remains to be seen but regardless of one’s faith loyalties, or lack thereof, poetry will continue to shift towards orality for the foreseeable future.

I expect my experience at the TLAA, once digested, will help provide insight into possible directions for non-liturgical poetry, which I remain passionate about.

So, that said, the regular posting schedule won’t be altered in the coming week but the monthly long-form essay will get pushed back because, frankly, I’ve only had time to write two shorter posts this past week so I’m completely free for the week ahead.

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Recently, Silver Door has been making moves behind the scenes and once I’m back from SC will soon begin reaching out to potential collaborators to help further develop the digital poetry scene. I’m excited.

Thanks for reading.