English

Noun

ur-poem ‎(plural ur-poems)

1. A poem that is believed to be a precursor or prototype to a more modern class of poetry. The term most usually references a hypothetical 'mother poem' of a genre. Jerome McGann described the ur-poem as a work "whose existence is the Idea that can be abstracted out of all concrete and written texts which have ever existed or which ever will exist"^[1].

See also

• ur-myth
• ur-form

References

1. ↑ McGann, Jerome J. "The Text, the Poem and the Problem of Historical Method." Literary Theories in Praxis. Ed. Shirley F. Staton. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1987. 202-14.