Do you agree that Artists and Poets are mad people???

Question:This taken from Horace's Ars Poetica or Translated as The Art of Poetry:
From a mad poet, whosoe'er is wise,
As from a leprosy or jaundice, flies;
Religious madness in its zealous strain,
Nor the wild frenzy of a moon-struck brain,
Are half so dreadful: yet the boys pursue him,
And fools, unknowing of their danger, view him.
But, heedless wandering, if our man of rhyme,
Bursting with verses of the true sublime,
Like fowler, earnest at his game, should fall
Into a well or ditch, and loudly call,
"Good fellow-citizens and neighbors dear,
Help a poor bard" not one of them will hear:
Or if, perchance, a saving rope they throw,
I will be there, and "Sirs, you do not know
But he fell in on purpose, and, I doubt,
Will hardly thank you, if you pull him out."

--->Meaning to say if a poet jumps into a volcano or a hole, do not attempt to save him as he might really want to do that in his state of madness being a poet. Do not save a poet who wants to commit suicide cause perhaps that's they way

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: This taken from Horace's Ars Poetica or Translated as The Art of Poetry:
From a mad poet, whosoe'er is wise,
As from a leprosy or jaundice, flies;
Religious madness in its zealous strain,
Nor the wild frenzy of a moon-struck brain,
Are half so dreadful: yet the boys pursue him,
And fools, unknowing of their danger, view him.
But, heedless wandering, if our man of rhyme,
Bursting with verses of the true sublime,
Like fowler, earnest at his game, should fall
Into a well or ditch, and loudly call,
"Good fellow-citizens and neighbors dear,
Help a poor bard" not one of them will hear:
Or if, perchance, a saving rope they throw,
I will be there, and "Sirs, you do not know
But he fell in on purpose, and, I doubt,
Will hardly thank you, if you pull him out."

--->Meaning to say if a poet jumps into a volcano or a hole, do not attempt to save him as he might really want to do that in his state of madness being a poet. Do not save a poet who wants to commit suicide cause perhaps that's they way

Excellent question.
Yes. depends on how we conceptualize 'madness.'
One of the best books addressing this subject is this one:
http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?book_id=4448...

**
... his raptures were,
All air, and fire, which made his verses clear,
For that fine madness still he did retain,
Which rightly should posses a poet's brain
-- Michael Drayton
**
"Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence--whether much that is glorious--whether all that is profound--does not spring from disease of thought--from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night"
- Edgar Allen Poe
**
This essay sheds some light:

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/no...

Some create weird poems but "mad" is really going overboard. That's pretty offensive.

I do not believe that artists and poets are mad people, then, I am both artist and poet myself.
I think that we just see the world with a different perception than most, which makes us unique, and sometimes very eccentric. People cannot handle others who are different than themselves, which leads to the assumption that we are mad.

Mad? if they say they are then be it so. I think rather that all men are prone to madness when under the oppression of solitude and are not free to expression of thought whether that be from limits of ones own mind, or by the limits of other obscure forces of either societal norms or the oppression of fear... i know that reason is obscure, and someone who cannot come to accept the absurdities of life, will find that unrestricted thinking can be an overwhelming experience, a poet and intellect is more prone to madness because they are likely to encounter a contradiction and find that they are unable to counteract this with reason.

No.
no madder or sane than any other person on this planet.it is just that their personality is noticed more because of their talent.any one can be an excentric and or insane,you don't have to be an artist.besides,first one becomes a human being with compassion,then an artist,,,,

Ghost.

if it takes to be mad to create a poem or a master piece, then i'd like to be mad.

In a sense, I think, a lot of us are mad people.

I suspect that, to be an artist or poet, one needs to look at the world in a different way than, say, an accountant or a taxi driver (though many artists and poets are ALSO accountants and taxi drivers!) It doesn't mean that they're raving lunatics, or manic depressives...it just means that they have a different take on things. Also, from my own experience, some very good work can come from some very hard times (both poverty and unrequited love are ripe fields for artists to pick in.)

Now, when Horace was around, they also had water pipes lined with lead...

The world is mad. everybody is mad on/about someone/something or the other.
its wrong to call only poets or scientists mad. just b'coz they do/can do what other ppl cant?

Hi i just wanted to ask u ''Did anything very horrible happened to u in the near past?" i felt it when i read that u wanted to die?
u can tell me if u want to share and make urself feel lighter!
U can mail me if u want!
I'm always ready to help!

In the sense that poets, true poets, i.e have this vision to see beneath and beyond what is normal and acceptable. Society can not accept that vision and calls them mad. But then they say madness is the majority's name for the sane minority. I guess the Augustan poets like Pope can't be put in this category, but all poets who decide to view the world as an outsider- the Romantics, the moderns, the post-moderns can come here. And in fact, madness is essential for their creativity- as Coleridge describes the Poet in Kubla Khan-
His flashing eyes, his floating hair !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Most people believe that the world is thrust upon them, and that their tragedies are the result of some divine machination, or some wry twist of Fate.

I think that, as a Bard, you are more likely to see through the majority perception, and recognize deeper truths about human thought and motivation. Applying the same thought process in an introspective way will undoubtedly liberate the Bard, and give him or her an internal locus of control - even to include controlling directly the choice to live, die, suffer, love, and/or be joyous or sorrowful.

Should you find yourself in the position to possess such abnormal insight - I would expect the common person to look upon you and your ideas with skepticism and not a little doubt for your sanity.

-greeneyedevil

The only thing that separates the mad from the sane is public opinion & that has a tendancy to change from time to time.

hm....that is a very good question....i am a poet i supposed you can say....or just one who expresses their feelings in a certain writing form...i am an amateur...but very mad...if you were to just meet me, by the way i act, you wouldn't think i was even the kind to write anything....but i have already written quite a few "poems" if you wish to call them that...really...i am mortified by the fact that some of my friends are trying to get the yearbook staff to title me as best writer of the school...for only few like my work and it's a great honor for the dark prince to be a friend, a teacher and a brother to me...all in all, i think it depends on what kind of mad it is...
~Deadly Poetry
my god...i really need to stop babbling like this....i need to being doing my homework....argh! homework....

Mad as in angry, no.
Mad as in crazy, yes.
A true artist is obsessed with his art. In order to be the best he can be, he must become one with his art, whether it be sculpting, painting, writing poetry or whatever he is doing. I get obsessed at times with my work, whether I am programming a new application for my computer, or writing a poem, or making a hunting knife in my workshop. When I do these things, I tend to exclude the world until I am finished. So, yes, an artist must be a little mad, and possibly a lot mad to exclude all else when working.

I feel 'mad' is too aggressive of a word and description.

If "mad" can be categorized as outside the normal methods of thinking, then yes, true artists have some level of madness within them. While the rest of the world sits at desks or builds roads, the artist faces a blank canvas or sheet of paper or outlined computer screen. Out of this must come a work of beauty. Surely, there is some madness in this. And speaking of madness, your former avatar told people, in essence, to go away. This one makes much more sense.

Artists and Poets simply know how to express their visions/experiences/creativity/observati... in words that form poems, stories, books, fairy tales, etc where many people can't or don't.

Look @ all the books in a library and I say this is not madness by any means. We'd be lost without them.