Is Poetry a dying art or is it really one of the greatest and most underappreciated?

Answer 1

I do think poetry is underappreciated, partially because it is compared often to visual arts. The problem with placing poetry in the same context as visual arts(such as an art website like deviantart.com) is that visual art has a much more instant impact on the audience. You see what it is right away(or see it right away, and figure it out later), and many visual artists strive for a strong first impact.

Poetry, on the other hand, takes time to read (however short, it is still longer than it takes to see a painting or somesuch). Also, though poets also strive for the initial reaction in the audience, often the effect is made much more subtly. Also, styles of work in visual arts are often much more obvious than in the written word. You may know you do not like cubism, because you've seen a Picasso and thought it was weird. But you might not know if a poet is writing in a style you don't like or if they are just not a good poet.

One reason poetry is frowned upon by people who have little experience with it is because it is something we are used to (language) applied in an unusual way. An earlier answerer said it was "just a backwards way of saying things that could be said a lot clearer." That is almost what it is, but not quite. For example, Sylvia Plath has a poem called "Cut." She writes " What a thrill -/My thumb instead of an onion./The top quite gone/Except for a sort of hinge/Of skin,/A flap like a hat,/Dead white./Then that red plush," when she could have just written, "I was cutting onions, and I accidentally cut my thumb." Why is that not poetry? Because it's totally objective, it has no emotion conveyed in the action. Poetry is not just about what you say, it's about how your say it. Poetry can make any little event or feeling epic, and any big catastrophe or triumph tiny.

Another reason good poetry is less appreciated than good visual art is that it is harder to tell if a poem is bad at a glance. Sure, you can tell that if a person is too lazy to type "you" instead of "u" and proofread for simple errors, the poetry is probably terrible. But beyond that, one has to both read and digest a poem before one can judge. That means the reader must spend time thinking on every poem, good or bad, before you decide its worth. This adds up to much more time than it takes for the audience to realize a person does not know how to draw a face.

Sorry this ended up being so long. In conclusion, I would have to say poetry is underappreciated, but I think any good poetry (beyond the "classics") is going to be buried in terrible poetry which does not deserve a reader's time. Poetry is a dying art because there is too much of it!

Answer 2

NO! But a good question nonetheless. Evidence here suggests even 10 year old children are exploring poetry, for what reason I can't know, but with suggestions that don't damage what spirit they may have, what passion they may feel, they could become most valid, most real in the craft. Simplicity is not a sin, though it seems relative to their generational issues and perhaps they haven't ventured out far enough yet in exploring such works that are classics. I enjoy music as well as poetry, and while the intent in music might be lyrical, it's often dilluted in a most commercialized version of what might more be worthy poetry. I'm young, naive in the craft, willing and wanting to learn and grow, and know that slings and arrows happen, but I work at shielding myself from those who offer no more than degradation and possible destruction, in what we might accept as poetic, evolution, generationally speaking. Their voice is no less worth listening to than any most well known, prolific or some quality judged here in this forum. Abstract here. "As a ripened Apple may fall to ground before being chosen, ingested Still as it decays, is absorbed by the Earth, and It can be the seeds of much new life."

Answer 3

Gingerpeachy (Up One) comes out with this whiney dribble ten times a day. He is so dull and so anal (Observations, not insults, hehe!) What an elitist prig he truly is.

Poetry is the most intense of arts. Every word, sentence and stanza has to be absolutely perfect to pass muster. But that is only if you want to be great poet. There is nothing wrong with someone being an ordinary common-or-garden rhymist. And those (like the person above me) who cannot stand other peoples musings and mutterings show a deep contempt for humanity beyond poetry.

Gingerpeachy! If quality poetry is not being published by "legitimate" publishers, WTF makes them "legitimate"? Having lots of money perhaps. Seemingly, the only thing that really counts in the art world today.
And how can someone as vain as you talk about other people's vanity? You're unbelievable.

Answer 4

Poetry is being smothered to death by two forces:
1. The idea that anyone can write poetry, and good poetry consists of nothing more than an honest expression of feelings.
2. The nearly opposite view that poetry should be an indecipherable word-salad that expresses nothing but the poet's cleverness.

Answer 5

Poetry is alive and thriving, as any web search will demonstrate. There are probably more writers and poetry appreciation groups today than ever before.

As far as being "appreciated," poetry is a literary genre like any other; biography, science fiction, sports, erotica, etc. It has it's own particular group of readers.

Poetry is "the economy of language," meaning that it expresses a feeling, an emotion or a scenario in as few words as possible. If it did not use fewer words, it might as well be a short story or a novel.

Answer 6

Here, you would think it's alive and well, because everyone fancies themselves a poet. Real poetry is very difficult to write. It is not being published todday by legitimate publishers. There is no market for it. The only places you find it published are by the vanity sites and other vanity publishers. Poetry is written for one's own amusement. Anyone who claims to have had boooks of it published, paid to have this done.

Answer 7

Poetry for the most part is a bunch of bologna, its just a backwards way of saying things that could be said a lot clearer. I never understood why people would enjoy having to interpret mumble jumble to get the story.

Answer 8

the word poetry is dead,its called spoken word,done by spoken word artists