An Orphic Oath for Future Poets

Posted by Linda Sue Grimes Sep 11, 2008

If poets were held to anything near the standard of physicians, far less doggerel would be polluting the world. I have written such an oath using the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath. Here is a sampling, the first two parts of the Oath:

1. I will respect and study the significant artistic achievements of those poets who precede me, and I will humbly share my knowledge with those who seek my advice. I will dedicate myself to my craft using all my talent while avoiding those two evils of effusiveness of self-indulgence and pontification of degradation and nihilism.
2. I will remember that there is science to poetry as well as art, and that spirituality, peace, and love always trump metaphors and similes. I will not bring shame to my art by pretending to knowledge I do not have, and I will not cut off the legs of colleagues that I may appear taller.

For the other five please see To Aspiring Poets: A Hippocratic Oath