Please explain poetry?

Question

I love well written books, I read ALOT. I love music with meaningful lyrics. But poetry that doesn't rhyme, sorry it just seems pretentious and self indulgent. What am I not getting?

Answer 1

Some poetry, rhyming or not, is pretentious and self-indulgent. But that is the case with any form of artistic expression--there will always be art, and there will always be artists that are prone to pretension and self-indulgence. That alone doesn't devalue the whole of a certain type of art.

At the same time, art will always be subject to critical review. Not all art is good art, and there will never be a poem that elicits the same response in all readers. There's nothing wrong with not liking a certain work, even if many others do. But poems that are generally accepted as well-crafted probably deserve some consideration, if for no other reason than why they inspire acclaim in so many people.

It is not my place to tell you what you may or may not be "getting", but something that may be affecting the way you percieve non-rhyming poetry is your notion of what poetry is. Many people have had the assumption from an early age that poetry is distinct from prose in that poetry is rhyming and metered, wheras prose is not. In a lot of cases, that definition holds true, but it misses the point of a lot of what poets do.

I like to think of poetry in the context of the larger concept of art. Compare it to painting, for example. Many painters paint realistic portraits of people, or a still life or a landscape, and that can be beautiful. They are taking pigments and putting them on canvas in such a way as to make an image that resonates with us. Poets do the same, only they use words as their medium, rather than paints. In the same way musicians do with sound, or sculptors do with clay, or dancers do with their bodies. But while some painters find portraits beautiful, and some poets find rhyme or meter beautiful, other painters choose abstract forms, or surrealistic settings, or impressionistic areas of color, just as some poets use carefully chosen, non-rhyming, non-metrical words to craft their poems.

Take the works of e.e. cummings, for example. Whether you like his work or not, you can see that he did some interesting things with the language, by using words in ways that went against the conventional expectation of poetry at that time. It's similar to how Picasso used familiar things like basic shapes and recognizable forms, but presented them in a way that was jarring and unrealistic.

Think of some poems or song lyrics that you like. What is it you like about them? Is it the way they rhyme one word with another? Or is it the way each line fits into a common meter? If the answer is yes, that's fine; those are both completely valid reasons to appreciate a poem. But I suspect that it's more than that you like about them--such as, as you suggested, the meaning of the words that resonates with you, or maybe something like the use of a similie or metaphor that is particularly appropriate that never would have occurred to you. And those things can still exist without the framework of rhyme or meter.

Answer 2

Someone was once asked to define pornography and the reply said that you'll know it when you see it. The same is true of poetry. Poetry is the art of using words and tones in such a way that it creates or invokes more than the sum of the words. If I said "the pretty clouds drifted across the pale blue sky" it would be "prose", or simple, direct writing. If I said, "popcorn angels danced upon a sky of silent blue" it invokes other images that actually have nothing to do with clouds, but infer the concept of clouds and provide an insight into the mind of the writer. Poetry tries to provide a vision of what the author/poet had in their "mind", not what they saw or heard, and uses any of the many the poetic devices, metaphor, simile, alliteration, hyperbole, etc. to convey what is often undefinable or lies beyond direct definition. Much of modern "unrhymed" poetry is fluff and babble, but there are many very good poems that don't rhyme. The problem with unrhymed poetry can be summed up in the response given by Rudyard Kipling when asked how he felt about "free verse": "I'm not sure...why don't you quote me some?" Rhymed verse was created because the rhyme pattern allowed for easier memorization. The problem most budding poets have with rhymed verse is that it is not just finding words that rhyme that make a good rhymed poem, but finding words that rhyme in such a way that it seems there was no other word that could have been used, that the rhyme seems so natural that you almost don't realize it rhymes. There are still many rhymed poets today, but they are in the minority because it is so much more difficult to do it well, and the majority of other poets tend to go with what they can do, which happens to be free verse. Free or open verse is in vogue...and as they say, perhaps "this too shall pass away"

Answer 3

Poetry is a selective recreation of reality. It aims at emphasizing the beauty of the intended subject matter or feeling. As Shelley says, Poetry makes something look beautiful, which is truth is distorted. Poetry differs from Prose in the sense that it employs rhythm (At least, it should). The rhythm of a poem is the skillful placement of stressed, half-stressed and non-stressed syllables in the form of words. And no, Poetry need not necessarily rhyme. Rhyme attracts attention and it's easier to recall and remember poems that rhyme. But that doesn't mean we should ignore all the Classic Blank Verses or many great modern verses.

Answer 4

Hah. That's funny you say that, since one of the greatest poets in the English language, John Milton, thought that rhyme was a cheap poetic device used by amateur poets. Or, to use his own words:

The Measure is English Heroic Verse without Rime, as that of Homer in Greek, and of Virgil in Latin; Rime being no necessary Adjunct or true Ornament of Poem or good Verse, in longer Works especially, but the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meeter; grac't indeed since by the use of some famous modern Poets, carried away by Custom...

I wouldn't go that far. But I also think it's one of the least important parts of poetry. Some poets have actually done some really great things with rhyme I think, look at Frost's "After Apple Picking", but Frost is no Milton, that's for sure.

Answer 5

Here the def.

Definition: Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response. Poetry has been known to employ meter and rhyme, but this is by no means necessary. Poetry is an ancient form that has gone through numerous and drastic reinvention over time. The very nature of poetry as an authentic and individual mode of expression makes it nearly impossible to define.

Max

Answer 6

Poetry doesn't have to rhyme in the generally accepted sense. It can be about rhythm or delivery or about conveying emotion or feeling. Some poetry can be quite psychodelic too.

Answer 7

Sometimes, it isnt the rhyming that matters- it is the rythem and the meaning. Most of my poems rhyme in other languages, as I find it easier sometiems to express myself in a language other than english. Also, emotion can be coveyed better when you aren't worring about rhyme.

Answer 8

Thought, expressed succinctly and brilliantly. Words in a fresh dimension. Originality exploded and laid out for others to enjoy. A fresh glimpse of a loved environment. Emotion in words. etc etc. Try Shakespeare's Sonnets or some Walter de la Mare.

Answer 9

personally i don't mind the fact that poems don't rhyme. it's the emotions they provoke, which don't need rhyming words to take effect.

Answer 10

If I sang a song, music would be the poets ear, for if I write a poem, the mind would work and hear...it is good.