Why Grammar Does and Does Not Matter
Grammar rules (and spelling and even definition) are descriptive, not prescriptive. They are not a set of rules. They are a collection of shared conventions that help make effective communication possible. And in this case, the end (effective communication) justifies any means, including rejecting these conventions.
Open almost any great novel, and you’ll see the ‘rules’ repeatedly being disobeyed to good effect. And this is even truer of poetry, which usually breaks a whole whack of ‘rules’ of grammar, punctuation, and—most startlingly—denotative clarity just to achieve its effect.
For example, let what Stephen Fry calls “grammar Nazis” evaluate this charming poem by e.e. cummings, who couldn’t even conform to capitalization usage in spelling his own name: “anyone lived in a pretty how town”.
