“The entity in the poem solely exists on the page and through performance. It can contain pieces of us or others in our lives, but “the speaker” is an interpretation..” – dimitrireyespoet.com
The common mistake...
I find in writing communities (even those that have been practicing for awhile) is that when people talk about the poem, they address the voice in the poem as “the poet” or “the writer.” This is to be avoided. The entity voicing their observations are having thoughts that are obviously created by the writer, but the one who pens the poem also has the poetic license to create and change the story. Therefore analyzing the poem as if the character is speaking solely about themselves is a false analysis and isn’t the point of poetry. So when analyzing or writing poetry, make it a habit of calling the entity that is speaking in the poem, “the speaker.”
Poetry as an artform unveils the human experience...
and in order to do so, it draws from the realms of factual and fictional experiences. When trying to be too truthful or vulnerable in your work, you may even realize that it can be limiting. As the poet, you can also take comfort in allowing yourself to fictionalize some of the narrative. This often happens when we write on a subject of love or loss that feels too close to the real thing. Allowing ourselves to operate in the poem as “the speaker” gives us the freedom to arrive to our own resolutions by manipulating those events and feelings.
In closing...
“the speaker” and “the writer” is an important distinction to make because the entity that exists on the page, isn’t the writer that exists in their everyday life. You are the tool writing the poem but in the confines of the poem you become someone different. When you are the speaker you are protected by your own poetic license. That means you can become whoever you want and speak on just about whatever you want. Now the great thing about the speaker is that it also disconnects yourself from this poem; you are able to step into “the self” of a new character. And to that effect, you could also choose to take on a whole different emotional, mental, and physical framework while navigating that character. When I write, I like to think of it as a literary mask. And when I have the literary mask on, I’m not Dimitri Reyes writing a poem, I’m whoever the poem needs me to be.
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