This, from a fabulous website...with the added bonus of Prufrock read by the man himself.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/26/t-s-eliot-on-creativity/

What do others think?

Jxxx

Many Thanks John for this link.
For myself, TSE is spot on,succint and accurate. I may have one sentence, a few words that is all, brooding in my mind for a few days. There has to be a change in my habitual circumstances - forget the daily grind- if it is to hatch. (Illness/drink/affair/breakup/peace/out of work)Then the pen takes over, a sheet of paper is filled with something unexpected. Relief like taking a dump after a period of constipation. (yes, unfortunately most needs flushing down the loo)
The "mystical illumination" is that work of genius you dream up when half asleep that would appear rubbish if you ever got to write it down.
Maybe having read this article I can understand better what drives my pen at times (too occasionally.
And this is the first time I have heard him read his own work. I appreciate Prufrock even more after this.

Well, this thread's not going to pass a hundred responses any time soon, is it!

: )

Jx

You are too clever for us Aikman. I took a peek at that site and decided to return when my brain felt up to it :)

Hi John,

Thanks so much for the link - I really like the website!

About T.S. Eliot on 'Creativity' - I agree with Nick Coleman, I think some poetry is kick-started by a jolt to the system, a crumbling of the 'normal'. But I disagree with Eliot in that I think not all poetry comes about this way, it seems some people, naturally gifted poets, can just wake up one morning and write an amazing poem.

I'm not sure which creates the best results. Maybe a mixture of the two??

Prufrock is great. Was Eliot ill when he wrote it?

I think poetry can come as an inspiration, but the craft of writing does involve slogging away at ways to express things effectively, and without the craft, the inspiration is not given voice.

I've always been fascinated by the John Lennon song 'Across the Universe' which Lennon believed stood on its own as poetry. This is what he said about how it came to be -

"But the words stand, luckily, by themselves. They were purely inspirational and were given to me as boom! I don't own it, you know; it came through like that. I don't know where it came from, what meter it's in, and I've sat down and looked at it and said, 'Can I write another one with this meter?' It's so interesting: 'Words are flying [sic] out like [sings] endless rain into a paper cup, they slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe.' Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship; it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. I didn't want to write it, I was just slightly irritable and I went downstairs and I couldn't get to sleep until I put it on paper, and then I went to sleep.

It's like being possessed; like a psychic or a medium. The thing has to go down. It won't let you sleep, so you have to get up, make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep. That's always in the middle of the bloody night, when you're half awake or tired and your critical facilities are switched off."

John, lots and lots to look at on this site, thx and not enough time right now. But Dave, your Lennon comments are really interesting. Lots of us have done this and it's quite a normal behaviour pattern and experience for me(on the one hand) and on the other still a moment of magic each timeit happens. Sometimes what I see in the morning is like writing by another person,(and it has written itself) sometimes its discarded as unproductive. How many poets out there work like this (at times) and how many never have these experiences. I might start the first WOL POLL? lol Win

Creativity cannot be forced surely. Events, experiences, travel, meeting people, news, dreams all conspire to produce creativity.
My recent effort only occurred as a result of my "once every three years" pollarding of a large willow in our garden. Another was the result of a fainting event suffered by my wife etc!
You never know where it will arrive next. I'm determined to get out more this year and soak up some more creativity if I can.

I rarely create something good on one draft - in fact never. Even if I'm doing something light-hearted that can be forgiven for being rubbish, I still go over it, trying to make it half decent rubbish.

Like Winston, often the things I've half written earlier, thinking they are going to be great, fail to measure up in the harsh light of day.

I don't know what it is that makes me stay with certain poems and finish them off - probably family circumstances. It's very hard to focus on poetry when you have constant distractions - sometimes you just lose the plot - or another idea comes along that you just have to pursue...

Creativity can't be forced, but it can be inspired. Tuning into other people's feelings and emotions often inspires me to write. That's why I like this site.