Now for my renewed look at poetry. I read the first 50 pages of Gioia's Poetry collection, and I must say poetry is not really as abstract as I first made it out to be. Sure the way poetry is written most of the time makes it seem like a rough draft of an essay without proper grammar and structure, which I still feel is partly why poetry is the abstract version of writing. However, I am starting to realize that poetry is almost a true reflection of the person writing it, but only the writer knows the true meaning. It seems as almost the whole idea of poetry is to hide your true self, but also reveal your past and your life to the reader. Poetry writing is like looking into the eyes of someone to try and find their feelings, but you can't look into their mind. Anyways, that is my renewed view on poetry, perhaps it will change throughout the semester, or it could just stay the same.
Welcome to the blog for Prof. John Talbird's English 102 class. The purpose of this site is two-fold: 1) to continue the conversations we start in class (or to start conversations before we get to class) and 2) to practice our writing, reading, and thinking on a weekly basis in an informal setting.
Friday, February 15, 2019
Renewed look at poetry
During the first day of this class, Prof. Talbird asked us to write on what we feel about poetry. Well, I wrote that poetry is the abstraction of writing, much like modern art is more the abstraction of the art world. I said this for a couple reasons. First off, my view on poetry is heavily influenced by the fact that most poems I have read do not make sense to me, although now that I have read more of the book of poems, I have new thoughts on the matter, anyways as I was saying most poems did not make sense. And I do not mean that the context didn't make sense, I meant more the grammar of poems do not usually make sense. The second reason that I thought that poetry is an abstraction of writing is that, and this is still a view of mine, poetry is open to an interpretation of every single person that lays eyes on it. Unlike most writing, which is usually straightforward and is not up to much of an open minded debate, poetry does not usually have context that screams this is what I am trying to show to my reader. Those are the two main reasons as to why I felt that poetry is the abstract of writing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I really like and is in agreement with what Andrew is saying here; along the lines where he established that as opposed to other writings poetry isn’t often straightforward and the meaning of it is not grasped in the same light as everyone that reads it. I can attest to the fact that it is true that only the writer of the poem will truly know what it means and gets the depth of it, and I think that that is a part of the reason why poetry has its own little twist to it than that of other writings. If it was always straight forward maybe it wouldn’t have the spice that it can contain, it would not have the suspense at times, it would not have the reader thinking to interpret it at a swift go at it. Poetry places the reader in a position to try and catch a glimpse of the writer’s intent. I also think that often times only the writer mostly will value their poetry because some might not like it because it come off as a parable to them, it is something that might require critical analyzing seeing that it’s not always crystal clear. To the writer it might be but to the reader it might be a totally different cup of tea. Poetry
ReplyDeleteis creative, it allows the writer to articulate and shew forth their thoughts, their imagery, the experiences in a way that might not always be easy to be unfolded. It can truly be a mystery and that is a part of the reason that makes it so beautiful at times.
I think you're both right--poetry can be frustrating sometimes, but it's also complex and rewards deeper reading. I love Andrew's simile, like looking into the eyes of someone and trying to guess their thoughts. Very nice.
ReplyDelete