Permutations and Poetry

Recently, I started thinking about the permutability of a language and how it applies to poetry. Word order is important and the right sequence of words can create emotion, surprise, and satisfaction. Some orderings are pleasing while others help a poet fit a structural form. Some build suspense by keeping the high impact word for the end, while others contribute to a poem’s sound. Which word ordering to choose, however, is often constrained by the grammar of the language. A grammar which allows more word orderings (i.e. a language with more permutability) not only gives a poet freedom to explore aesthetics within the context of a particular concept or idea they’ve decided to express, but also makes it easier to fit structure and cadence. In Hindi, for example, the phrase “tum aaye yahan” (you came here) can also be written as “tum yahan aaye” (you here came),”yahan tum aye” (here you came), “yahan aaye tum” (here came you), “aaye tum yahan” (came you here), and “aaye yahan tum” (came here you). While my understanding of Hindi grammar is limited, most of these phrases would be acceptable in poetry, while in English, only “you came here” would pass unquestioned.

Perhaps the permutability of a language is also related to how easy it is to write poetry in the language. Stepping back: what makes a language suitable for expression? And if a new language were being created - what words and rules should we choose for it and why? Would we ask for there to be specific phrases, so we can always capture how we feel? Or specific sounds we love, so songs would always be soothing? Or many words that sound the same, so grandfathers could continue to discover puns?

And when one day, individuals take it upon themselves share experiences that the language we made couldn’t fully capture (and start doing so in beautiful suprising ways), how would the decisions we make today affect the poetry they create?