What do you think of poetry?

Question

Do you enjoy reading or hearing poems? Would you recite one? Does poetry make you uncomfortable or does it iinterest and excite you? Do you like or dislike poetry in general? Do you associate poetry only with school?

Answer 1

I like poetry, some favourites that have stayed with me:

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
The Spell of the Yukon by Robert W. Service
The Tollund Man by Seamus Heaney

Poems express so much more than prose, ideas are distilled in them to their simplest form, emotions, moments, all perfectly preserved. Like most people, I first encountered poetry at school, but I do read it for pleasure now, and I even think of song lyrics as a form of poetry, and enjoy them as such.

Answer 2

I'm not much into poetry, I must admit.
My preference is for reading prose rather than metre.

I do have quite a lot of poetry among my books but I never quite take the time to read the poetry even though I have some really good authors in there.

I prefer having poetry read to me only if it is read well. You must see the fields, hear the birds, feel the ache. Otherwise it might be more pleasant to stick one's head under a dripping faucet. More refreshing.

On the point of metre though, I imagine that the reason that some novels read with the speed of a leaf floating downriver while others read like a leaf rushing down the rapids must have a lot to do with the structure, the internal poetry of the words.

Some novels are poetry without the paragraph breaks. Other novels are just words with no poetry.

I have certainly not managed to take in Beat poetry. I'd rather listen to Rap!

Answer 3

I have always pretty much ignored poetry until my daughter had to write a research paper on Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress". I helped her sort through the myriad historical and critical data that exists for this relatively short poem, and I learned something in the process.

Once you understand what a masterpiece this little poem is and the skill with which the author chooses certain words to create the scene, characters and social commentary of the poem, a light bulb comes on in your brain. You see it in a whole new light; it's like reading between the lines.

Learning something about the historical context in which a poem was written and about the poet himself are important too and adds to the enjoyment of the poem.

I think writing good poetry probably has to be the most difficult of the literary arts. Some of it sounds like jingles. So much of it is trite and belongs on a Hallmark card. It takes a master of language and literature (along with other things) to write a truly good poem. The poet also needs to have something to say. Occasionally, someone is just a genius poet--like Walt Whitman, Bob Dylan or John Lennon.

I just got a new book of poetry by Freida Hughes, the daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Can't wait to read it.

Answer 4

I love poetry. I enjoy hearing it and when I read it, I speak it out loud so I hear it. I have recited many before, even my own, in front of an audience. Poetry makes me feel all sorts of things including comfort and discomfort, interest and boredom, ecstasy and malaise. It is the single most approximation to my emotional and psychological life and I wouldn't change it for anything. I associate poetry with every success in life. My marriage was poetic, my job should be poetic, my teaching is poetic, my friendships are poetic, and this question should be answered with a line of poetry from one of my favorite poets, Roque Dalton:

I believe the world is beautiful and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone.

Answer 5

I hated poetry at school but now i love it. Philip larkin , sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes are all pretty good although Plath is a little depressing...she was a dark lady.
I would recommend you read Philip Larkin. This be the verse.
They **** you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

Answer 6

Good poetry is a pleasure to read - it hums along. Bad poetry, of which there is a great deal, grates on your senses like a rough car engine. I don't only associate poetry with school although with Latin and so on there is a load of it there

Answer 7

I like poetry quite a bit. To me poetry represents the highest control of one's language. Poetry is not easy to do and doesn't have to rhyme although the iambic pentatemeter usually does rhyme.

Consider this verse by Rudyard Kipling:

"When you find yourself wounded
and left on Afghanistan plains
And the women come out
to cut up what remains
Then roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains;
and go to your God like a soldier!"
-Soldiers Lament-

or this poem,

"The cow is of the bovine ilk,
One end is moo, the other, milk!"

Poems can make you laugh, make you cry, make you think, and can make a profound statement.

I've been out of school a very long time yet I've rediscovered poetry, such as Shakespeare's sonnets, or the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, or the poetry by Edwin Arlington Robinson (whom President Teddy Roosevelt greatly admired).

"Like one that on a lonely road,
doth walk in fear and dread;
And once turns round, walks on,
and turns no more his head;
'cause he knows a frightful fiend,
doth close behind him tread."
-Rime of the Ancient Mariner-

Edwin Arlington Robinson, 19th century New England, quit his job so he could devote more time to his poetry.

Poetry writing can be just as life consuming as chess, poker, dungeons & dragons, or music.

Answer 8

I used to love poetry at school but now I just find it dead boring and just don't get them or understanding what they go on about most of the time.

Answer 9

Like The Good Ship Venus and Eskimo Nell if that counts.

Answer 10

I think it's kinda useful, just to get your point across
But seldom to the girlfriend, and never to the boss
for some dont see the merrit of the words we speak in rhyme
so dont ask silly questions when you come on here next time