According to Turkish literary pioneer, writer, thinker, poet and community leader Sezai Karakoç, a poet must possess three essential elements. He identifies these elements as “Peer Gynt’s triangle” because he believes them to be reflected in the life of Peer Gynt, the protagonist of one of Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen’s most famous plays.
The three elements are:
- The poet must be him/herself
- The poet must be self-sufficient
- The poet must be satisfied with him/herself
1. The poet must be him/herself
“The only way for a poet to become him or herself is to change, to transform.”
2. The poet must be self-sufficient
“The principle of self-sufficiency means that a poet must be able to find the seed for their art and the climate to develop it from within themselves. Essentially we are turning an ivory tower inside out – the universe must be an ivory tower for the poet; the pigeons lost at dawn, the poet must be able to find in the afternoon.”
3. The poet must be satisfied with him/herself
“The poet’s art must make them tremble with joy. A poet must love their art. He/she should caress it, but he/she should also not tolerate its mischief. He/she should, without offending, explain to it the behaviours he/she doesn’t like and trick it into correcting itself and make it believe it. He/she should say to it ‘it resembles me, ah, it is me’.”
The foundation of satisfaction is joy. Not the joy of living, but the joy of letting live.
The whole concept of “Peer Gynt’s Triangle” captured my interest and I believe there to be a huge connection between the aforementioned three elements and Hip-Hop – particularly the braggadocio and storytelling elements of it.
Naturally, some rappers will fail with the third element especially, but I find that the best, the good ones, possess all three.
What are your thoughts?