Hartz: Poetry allows its authors to be angsty or old-school
Celebrate National Poetry Month.
By Jenny Hartz (Contact)
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
The month of April showers the world with not only rain but also poetry.
That’s right. It’s National Poetry Month.
I am sick of the angry, the-world-sucks poetry, and I cannot bring myself to write an ode to the clouds.
Now, many readers may be rolling their eyes and groaning, thinking of the usual poetic stereotypes.
We have our:
1. Angsty, depressed intellectuals donned in black who are burdened with the woes of the world, their souls dripping truth upon the page.
2. Old-school Romantics who, like hippies, enjoy watching the grass grow and cannot say anything without describing it to the last miraculous molecule.
3. Old epic poets who describe battles and glory in such a vague way that we are immediately induced into a sonorous slumber.
Poetry is sometimes misunderstood as boring or too complicated. Sure, some poetry is like that, but we should not be so quick to condemn all poetry books to only be useful doorstops.
If we judged every book by the literature we are required to read in class, many of us would never pick up a book again in fear of finding something as terrifying as “Heart of Darkness.”
Poetry attempts to describe a moment in time, and it paints a picture with words.
Poetry does not require a deep, dark hidden meaning. Poetry just is. It is a form of expression, a way of communicating the author’s thoughts.
Think of poets like Shel Silverstein, Dr. Suess or Ogden Nash. They are talented writers who express their thoughts and ideas in poetry.
However, their poetry is often not what we think of when thinking of traditional poetry. But, regardless of the form and subject matter, their work is still poetry.
When we look at poetry with this mindset, it is not as daunting. In fact, we might find poetry rather fun.
I am sick of the angry, the-world-sucks poetry, and I cannot bring myself to write an ode to the clouds (They’re clouds. They float. End of story).
Instead, I wrote a poem about how I despise how much teachers pick literature apart.
This poem was very popular with my classmates in high school.
Why? Because it is genuine.
If authors write about personal subject matter in a style that is true to themselves, then poetry can be beautiful and easily accessible for all people.
Hartz is a Stilwell junior in creative writing.
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