Poetry question for lovers of poetry, authors as well as readers, ready?

Question

Should poetry only be serious, or can it be humorous too?

The question is hardly absurd. The only real absurdity is people who do not have an open mind. I offered no conclusions to my question. I was only curious how other people saw poetry. I heard from some evolutionarily challenged person who claimed another poets poems were not serious and thus should not be considered poetry. So I asked you good people for your opinion.

Answer 1

I like peas....

And I agree...too much being read into the question.

There's a time and a place for all manner of madness...

Answer 2

This question is totally not absurd. I believe people of the Arts shouldn't confine themselves to their own judgments. Works of art, including poetry should be assessed with a broad world view and an open heart. Even Shakespeare, the greatest writer who ever lived has produced a poem that is both serious and humorous at the same time. A serious message can be presented in a humorous way, vice versa. I argue on behalf of this:

SONNET 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.


I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.



William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Answer 3

If you want to know if there is humorous poetry, yes, there is, even of the classical type. There are satirical poems, and satirical poets. There are poets who are now considered classics, and who wrote humorous poems. There are so many examples, I don't know which one to choose.
A French one, Arthur Rimbaud, so well-known for his symbolic poetry. He also wrote some humorous poems. I can give you only one example here, not absolutely convincing, but the rest would be censored immediately (but I give you the link, so you can read the rest if you like). It was written around 1870.

Drunken Coachman

Unwashed
Drinks:
Mother-of-pearl
Sees:

Bitter
Law,
Carriage
Falls!

Woman
Tumbles:
Loin

Bleeds:
- Whimpers!
Outcry.

http://www.mag4.net/Rimbaud/poesies/AlbumE.html


Edit: Squirrel Cage, welcome to the poetry section!!!

Answer 4

I don't think any self-respecting poet consults a dictionary to select words for his diction (Looking up the meaning for a word is of course passable). I use only those words which I'd usually be comfortable speaking in, for instance, a public meeting. Poetry is related, more than we think, to contemporary language. That's why there is even a thing as "Archaic words". As WB Yeats says "Think like a wise man. Communicate in the language of the people." Emily Dickinson used "thesaurus" words because, the audience of her time were able to understand them without much effort. That doesn't mean they should be used now. It's somewhat like the Time Value of Money. An amount of 10$ 10 years back is more valuable then than now.

Answer 5

Some of the best poetry is humorous. And some of the best poets in history have been humorists. Some of our finest tools as poets are our keen sense of word play and our highly developed wit. Those together make for some raucous, yet artfully wrought hilarity.

Answer 6

Poetry reflects the poet....serious, romantic, tragic, silly....you name it, its still poetry.
Poetry doesn't have to be about serious...it just has to be about how the poet views the world. If a poet sees humor, then he/she writes humorously.
Myself, I like silly poetry...it makes me smile when nothing else can!

Answer 7

what makes you think that poetry cannot be both serious and humorous?

thomas hood was a social reformer who realised that people would avoid his poems if he made them too earnest. so he wrote 'light' poems with a very serious message.

Answer 8

Two Literary Critics once killed each other in a duel over this very question.

A poet who witnessed the affair d'honore described it as:

"Ill conceived, poorly plotted, badly staged and ineptly
Executed. Yet, somehow, oddly satisfying."

Answer 9

Poetry can be about anything. how funny it should be depends on The kind of poetry. A limerick, for examle, is supposed to be funny.

Answer 10

Poetry most definitely can be humorous. Look at the work of e.e. cummings.