[NetBehaviour] The self-abolition of the poet

[Edward Picot]

"The coronation of kings, the praise of nations, the vindication of the 
ways of god (or the gods) to man, the counting and administration of the 
wealth of the rulers. These were the original tasks of the poem... Poets 
really are the unacknowledged legislators of the world because, from the 
start, the poem was a tool for the administration of the affairs of 
state..."

These are very questionable statements. They refer specifically to 
written poetry, and even then they're pretty dodgy. It's just as valid 
to argue that the origin of poetry lies in nursery-rhyme and the 
playing-with-words which happens in childhood. "Georgie Porgie pudding 
and pie" is just as much an Ur-poem as the Epic of Gilgamesh, and it's 
got nothing to do with administration or affairs of state.

- Edward