Introduction to Poetry

Poetry can be one of the most powerful forms of expression. It can be used to convey an idea, a feeling, or just to make people think. Some of the most famous and well-known poems were written in response to major events in history, such as wars or natural disasters. Others are just meant to make people feel good or to show them a new perspective on life. No matter what the reason, poetry is a medium that should not be ignored.

Poetry is often seen as a complex and inaccessible form of writing, but it doesn't have to be. By starting with some basic terminology and getting a sense of the different forms poetry can take, anyone can begin to enjoy this type of writing. Once you understand the basics, read some poems that appeal to you and try composing your own. You might be surprised at how much you enjoy it.

 Why is it important to study poetry?

People often think of poetry as something difficult to understand, or that is only meant for people who are “artsy” or “sensitive.” While it is true that poetry can be complex and challenging, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth exploring. Poetry can be one of the most powerful forms of expression. It can be used to convey an idea, a feeling, or just to make people think. Some of the most famous and well-known poems were written in response to injustice, love feelings, moral degeneration and more so controversial topics the community could be going through at a given time.

What is Poetry?

Poetry is a form of writing that creatively expresses feelings and ideas usually rhythmic in an imaginative way. It's The spontaneous outflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility. It can be about anything, from love and happiness to anger and sadness. Poems can be short or long, and they can be written in any style, including free verse and sonnets.

 People have been writing poetry for thousands of years, and it is still one of the most popular forms of writing today. Many famous authors, including William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe, are considered to be masters of the art form.

 Poetry typically uses rhythm, imagery, and emotion to communicate ideas. Poems don't have to rhyme. The best way to learn about poetry is to read a lot of it. Try to identify the elements that make a poem successful. Then, try writing your poems. Be sure to share them with others to get feedback.

 Poetry is the art that uses words as both speech and song to reveal the relatives that the senses record, the feelings salute, the minds perceive and the shaping imagination orders it.

Poetry is variety in uniformity. Tailor says, ‘prose is the words in their best order while poetry is the best words in the best order.’

It is the act or art of doing through words what the painter does using colour.

Poetry is like a mini skirt

Long enough to cover the subject.

Short enough to rouse the interest.

 

Poetry is a study of poems, which is a piece of writing, arranged in a pattern of lines and sounds, expressing some thought, feeling or human experience in an imaginative way or language.

 From the dawn of time, man has made poetry and listened to it. It’s therefore as old as man. It is one of the most important things he can do, for it is through his poetic power that man advances and evolves within his world. D.H. Lawrence puts it very well.

“The essential quality of poetry is that it makes a new effort of attention and “discovers” a new world within the known world. Man, the animals, and the flowers, all live within strange and forever surging chaos.

 The chaos which we have got used to, we call cosmos. The unspeakable inner chaos of which we are composed, we call consciousness, mind, and even civilization. But it is ultimately chaos lit up by visions, or not lit up by visions. Just as the rainbow may or may not light up the storm.”

The critic and poet, Archibald MacLeish also says;-

 The poet’s labour is to struggle with the meaninglessness and silence of the world until he can force it to mean; until he can make the silence answer and the non-being BE. It is labour that undertakes to “know” the world not by exegesis or demonstration or proof but directly as man knows an apple in the mouth.

To know the apple, you must eat it. To know a poem, you read it, hear it, and allow it to come to life in your mind.

 As the poet, therefore, struggles with non-being to force it to yield being; knocking upon silence for answering music, we the readers or reciters or critics listen and appreciate what they have discovered or brought to light from the dark and silent worlds.

Since poems are written by man and for men, they are very much like people. It’s very much like you having a thought of the people you know, especially your friends. How did you feel about them when you first met them?

 Sometimes, you did not like someone immediately; other people, you take long to get to know- maybe, you don’t even like them much at the first meeting. Then gradually as you get to know them, you begin to appreciate qualities in them that you could not see when you first met. Sometimes, our best friends come from friendship that grows slowly.

Poetry is a bit like that, it’s about the way you feel. Sometimes a poem is immediately enjoyable. It makes you smile or laugh out loud. Sometimes, it reminds you of something you have experienced; you think,

“How true-that is exactly how I feel but I did not think of putting it like that.’

At times, a poem may be hard to understand at first and even second reading, but after you have become so familiar with it, you can begin to understand.

Occasionally, poems like that become your favourites. So, you see, poems are like people you meet.

Terms used in Poem.

When reading and analyzing poetry, it is important to understand the various terms that are used to discuss the written word. By understanding these terms, it becomes easier to understand the speaker's point of view, the persona they have adopted, as well as the structure of the poem. In this blog post, we will define and provide examples of each of the following terms: poet, speaker, line, stanza, and persona.

To help make sense of it all, let's start with some basics. A poet is the creator of a poem, while the speaker is the persona within the poem. They are the voice of the poem - it can be the poet themselves or a character they've created.. Lines are what make up poems, they are a group of words that make a unit of sense A line is a unit of measurement in poetry - it's typically defined as one row of text on a page. Stanzas are simply multiple lines grouped to make a unit of sense and create a certain effect or mood. . Finally, a persona is a character within a poem, a person spoken to or about in the poem. A poet speaks through their (Persona’s) work. Once you have a basic understanding of these terms, it will be easier to read and appreciate poetry.