Guest Blogger: Sam P.
Poetry. Why do we have poetry? What is its purpose in life, does it even have one?
Yes.
See! Isn’t that boring! Come on, yes? That’s the best you got? Information can only go so far, can only do so much, can only inform. That’s why we have poetry, for those who want more than just information, for those who have the information and want to feel the emotion behind it as well. From what we have learned in class and from the wondrous book Sound and Sense I know for a fact that poetry is VERY important to our social life. Poetry puts writing on a higher level than simple communication and comprehension. However to understand certain poems you need the back ground. Poems are short, emotional, concise arrangements of words that make the reader who already knows the background feel and understand the topic in a way that simply cannot be done in any other form of writing. Life is more than just numbers and facts, that’s why poetry makes so much sense. You can call poetry a gateway drug if you like, It gives people an escape from the factual world while opening up people’s minds to not only see life in a new way but to think and understand life on a much deeper level. The book Sound and Sense compares people who see poetry as dull and boring to a “colorblind person who denies there is such a thing as color”.
A poem that exemplifies this is called Epigram From the French (sound and sense 395) by Alexander Pope.
--Sir, I admit your general rule
That every poet is a fool;
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.--
(Alexander Pope)
I really like this poem, it is not ‘just’ a slap in the face, it is an educated slap in the face, a slap that makes you think “Wait, what does SOAPSTone stand for again??”. And that is why we have poetry. Well not the only reason, but a big one.
posted by erdecker @ 1:49 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I know that at some point in my life I will likely gain a greater understanding/appreciation of poetry but since this inevitable enlightenment has not yet occurred, I thought this would be an appropriate venue to vent my criticisms. First of all, it seems that sometimes with poetry, like art, it is more about who you are than what you do (obviously not true in all cases). Also, sometimes things are over read and they begin to take on all new meanings that the author never had intended. Recently when J.D. Salinger passed away NPR was covering his life around the clock. They stated that one possible reason that he may have gone into “hiding” was out of fear of not being able to create another masterpiece. This particular reporter thought that perhaps critics, elevating J.D. Salinger to a nearly God-like status, pulled out elements in The Catcher in the Rye that Salinger had not even realized that he included. In essence, his book was better than he wrote it to be.
Sam, I am glad you included the colorblind analogy, like a “colorblind person who denies there is such a thing as color,” because upon first reading this, I thought “hmm, that really makes sense.” It makes sense except for the fact that color blind people can in fact see color therefore making the statement completely false. Oh well, maybe if you do not dig to deep into the analogy you will be content. Perhaps my time of enlightenment is near so I am glad I was able unleash some of my thoughts about poetry while I am still able.
I do not understand what you mean about color blind people being able to see color. Did you mean that they can see a difference in darkness and brightness?
"Color blindness (color vision deficiency) is a condition in which certain colors cannot be distinguished" {{http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/aboutcb.asp}}
But that doesnt really matter...
Mikail, you made me realize a very important thing that i missed out on while writing my blog. That is that i should have tied more of my personal feelings and life into the blog dealing with how poetry affects me. You did a good job of this and i must agree that i have not found my "Poetic" side as of yet but with time i hope to over come this deficiency...
That was a good explanation Sam on why poetry is something more than just elaborate and confusing words all mixed together. I agree that many poems are over read and criticized. Some people don't understand that many poems have a simple purpose and meaning behind them. The "dull" factor behind poems is that many people have not been introduced with the right skills and tools on how to read a poem. Many of us have been used to numbers, straight out given facts, and words in order to understand a meaning or a purpose to a literary work. After all our practices and exercises dealing with the Poetry Unit many of us, including myself, have been taught the basic skills such as TPCASTT and SOAPSTONE that enable us to tackle the basic meaning or purpose of a poem. If more people know that poetry isn't just elaborate words and metaphors mixed together to "sound good" then many people would read poetry as a form of entertainment
Ramon F Banzon
Sorry if I did not elaborate enough when I critiqued the color blind analogy. Color blind people are indeed able to see color it is just that they cannot differentiate certain colors from each other (the non-distinguishable colors will differ depending on the type of disorder). It is almost unheard of for there to be a human being that cannot see any color, but perhaps I am reading too far into the analogy (do not want to be a hypocrite).
While many poems are extremely boring, some of them may actually be somewhat enjoyable. They are all open for interpratation, but we should be careful so we don't overanalyze the meaning(s) of a poem like some poetry junkies tend to do...
Oh my, so now Sound and Sense is your hero! I'm happy that you seem to derive so many of your feelings from that book. It saddens me that even though you find this drug so powerful, you haven't been able to obtain any of it yet.
Except, I think you have. I would say the average person does not sit down with a volume of poetry and read it cover to cover. Instead, you find it in cartoons, newspapers, websites, and music. While some poetry is timeless, I would argue most of "modern" poetry is involved in current events, and thus will rarely be found in a volume.
Another ridiculous analogy for you: Poetry is like dessert. It is not like beef. You don't need it to survive, but it sure is a nice surprise once in a while.
I hope this post made sense. I'm on less than 4 hours of sleep, and probably shouldn't be allowed near a keyboard.
comments closed.
Well done Sam, nice engagement with core idea and making sense of it. 16/15 for coming back and continuing to discuss. 6/5 Mikail likewise. Bit more depth, please, Jake.
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