Finishing Up w/ Poetry
As we finish the anthology, I would like you to think about some of the following questions:
- These are, according to Gioia and Lehman the "best" poems of 2018.
Can you generalize about what it takes to write a "best" poem? What did
you learn about poetry over the last few weeks? How did these readings
confirm, or challenge, your previous feelings about poetry?
- Which poem was your favorite? Which poem did you struggle w/ the most?
- Kay Ryan's poem, "Some Transcendent Addiction to the Useless" quotes from critic George Steiner's The Poetry of Thought
in her title. It's my understanding that Steiner argues that truly
great art is bound up with "useless" skills (like writing poetry). This
brings us back to our discussion on the first day: How useful is it to
read poetry? To write it? Why are you required to do it in 102? Are you
glad that you had to read a book of poetry? Or was it annoying? Or
both?
- What questions do you still have about poetry, or about any of the poems in the anthology?
There is no absolute answer to what it takes to write a "best" poem. I think everyone has their own perspective and opinion. One might think it is the best while the other will not. Over the last few weeks I learned that poetry can be created in many ways. My favorite poem was called "How Poems Arrive" It was interesting to read and how nicely it was structured while still maintaining to bring it's meaning across. Poetry is useful because it can open up your mind, help you release your feelings, and bring about your talent. I think it was a good experience especially trying to figure out what the hard poems mean.
ReplyDeletePoetry all depends on the reader and writer. Poetry is a very exquisite type of writing because not everyone is good at it. Yes, everyone can write a quick little poem but usually poems have deeper meanings and its up to the writer to hide the meanings behind the lines. The reader, on the other hand can have difficulties interpreting the poem or not. Poems can have a lot of different meanings behind them which is why they are so beautiful. I prefer to write poems instead of longer pieces of writing because within a poem, you can make 5 words mean 100.
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