The Art Of Poetry Jorge Luis Borges

Research paper on The art of Poetry (1960)

By Jorge Luis Borges

In the poem The Art of Poetry, by Jorge Luis Borges, the author describes what poetry is to him, what it represents, and how it makes him feel. Borges was born in Argentina in August of 1899. Even during his infancy in South America, Borges accomplished his first published translation when he was only nine years old. When he was fifteen years old, Borges and his family relocated to Europe and throughout a decade the Argentine experienced various European cultures. As a result, much of Borges’ literary work was influenced by Western European culture. Borges became considerably affected during in his mid to late fifties when he became completely blind resulting from a hereditary disease on his father’s side. Losing his sight did not stop him from becoming the new director of the National Public Library of the Republic of Argentina, and give speeches around the world. Borges writes about himself in his work: The Art of Poetry. Apart from Borges’ descriptions, he does not provide a clear answer as to what the art of poetry actually is. Like in most of his literary work, he chooses to make the reader doubt and think, by creating an incoherent reality; he uses ambiguous metaphors and numerous similes; he repeats the exact same word in his rhyme scheme ABBA which limits the words he can use, therefor using words that have multiple meanings; because of these steps taken by Borges, the reader must take it upon him/herself to understand what the art of poetry actually is.

In the first paragraph, Borges states that poetry is eternal even though we only live for a short period of time. Writing poetry for him is vitalizing and makes him feel eternal. Borges makes reference to t...

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Levine, Suzanne Jill. "Notes to Borges’s Notes on Joyce: Infinite Affinities." Comparative Literature 49.4 (1997): 344-359. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 183. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

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