Poetry delights the eye, ear, heart and mind. Wordplay has always been one way used by poets to reach the parts that other methods don't reach. There's more to wordplay than rhyming - anagrams, riddles, puns and crossword clues have all been used. However, readers often feel that wordplay should have a subordinate role, that language shouldn't be (to use the current jargon) foregrounded. They feel that giving wordplay the leading role would be just playing with words: juggling a football rather than scoring a goal.
Have a look at the following extracts. Do you like them? Would you call them poems? To what extent are they just playing with words?
How can I bare it? My idle, My bridle partner Left me last weak For a made. What a waist Of ours And ours. ...
I saw four strange creatures travelling together; They left behind them a trail of black tracks. The lifter of birds sailed up speedily, it took to the air, then dived under the waves. The struggling warrior who points out the paths To the four creatures, crawled on and on Over the rich gold. What was it I saw?Answer: 2 fingers, a thumb and a quill pen
A line-up retains innate perusal: I nap at leisure in nine tulips area, near a lupin site. Neutralise pain? I pause. Internal ear puts in a line: a siren unit, pale as a tune in peril. ... A satin pure line unites in a pearl; a tune is plainer. A pineal tuner is Pauline Stainer.
When you understand that a river is a flower You have begun. Friday, of course, is a man, And a duck means nothing. ...
My first is in life (not contained in the heart) My second is ...
I'm a riddle in nine syllables, An elephant, a ponderous house, A melon strolling on two tendrils. ...