VERY rarely does such a definition of poetic process emerge. In one simple sentence, Robert Frost describes the core of spontaneity around which poetry gets woven. A momentary flash often is enough to start a poem in the mind. A word here, another word there -- not in sequence, though with much consequence. The poet grapples with the rigour, rises above the trauma of the fear that he -- or she -- may miss it in the black hole of dead memory. One word here. Another word miles apart -- unconnected, yet connected in some strange way that is hard to capture in words. Figure of speech, meter, grammar -- all these are secondary in the mind when a poem is being born. True, a poem is just a completed form. But when the process is on, it is sheer poetry, complete with traumatic inner being, complete with a terrible feeling of uncertainty about what will come out ultimately, complete with a sense of incompleteness until the demotion is captured first in the mind and then funnelled into words.

 

If this is how the poetic process proceeds almost in every case, then the ending of a poem is as uncertain as its start. Yet, starting to write a poem is rather easier than ending it. For, an inspired expression throws itself up from the depth of consciousness -- and almost always, the first burst of creative thought also rides on the shoulders of rather the first word. But as the poem proceeds, traumatically to begin with, the process gets tormented time and again. For, the thought is formed -- in the para vani as per the Indian science of speech -- and the poet proceeds with it. Then appears the vague emotion in memory -- Pashyanti, as per the Indian understanding, and the poem goes on forming itself haltingly, even dauntingly. Then the words assume sound -- Madhyama -- and finally tumble out in the fourth dimension of speech -- Vaikhari! This happens with every word a human being says. But the process is far more complicated when poetry is in the making, when a poem is being born.

 

In most cases, therefore, the poet hardly knows the point where that particular gush of emotion would stop. Therefore, Robert Frost says that Writing a poem is discovering ... -- mostly discovering self. Many poets have expressed wonderment if they had really written those inspired words -- so different they seem when they finally appear. Many a poet is known to have felt surprised and also mesmerised with his or her own ability of fine expression, for this reason. So, Robert Frost says that he has never started writing a poem whose end he knew. In other words, Frost only applauds the spontaneous process of the birth of poetry -- with multiple elements -- self-discovery being the main among those.