What is Poetry?
Poetry is very difficult to explain or to define, however it presents certain distinguishable features that you could identify from Prose. Some aspects like rhyme and alliteration; also it constantly make use of figurative language, symbols and imagery. Poetry deals with emotions and interpretation. It transmits to the reader a different spirit of understanding.
K.J. Kennedy explains in his book “Literature: An introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama.” That if you want to know about something you’d better think for yourself, you should not hurry, stop, see and hear. This is the case for Poetry, if you want to know what poetry is, you should not expect a quick answer or definition. Poetry invites you to analyze. Poetry evokes to your attitude and emotions.
“Pressed for an answer, Robert Frost made a classic reply: “Poetry is the kind of thing poets write” …If Frost had said, “Poetry is a rhytmical composition of words expressing an attitude, designed to surprise and delight, and to arouse and emotional response” The questioner might have settled back for an in his chair, content to have learned the truth about poetry. But, he would have learned nothing, or not so much as he might learn by continuing to wonder” (Kennedy&Gioia, 1995, p487)
What Poems do?
Read the two following poems , appeal to your feelings and reasoning and come up with meaningful ideas to yourself
Schakel & Ridl in their book, “Approaching poetry” state that poetry differs from reading a newspaper or a memo or a book like theirs. You usually read books to find information or ideas. Of course many poems convey information or ideas , they go beyond that. Here you have a list of what poems can do.
- Poems lead us to feel intensely, to experience deeply and extend our understanding.
- Since poems are rich in content of symbols, ideas and imagery, it makes think in our own experiences.
- Poems can also tell a story
- Poems can embody feeling
- Poems can portray characters
- Many poems can do all these at the same time
How to read a poem?
WATCH AND THINK ABOUT THIS
Reading requires some adjustments to the usual approach we take to reading, here some guidelines that you may find useful:
- Listen to the poem (It is you and the poem, ONLY)
- Read slowly
- Read straight to the whole poem, DO NOT stop, then re-read cRefully what did not understand at first.
- Notice Titles, they are not just there to fill and empty space. Titles can sometimes offer and entry or a hint for the meaning of the poem.
- Work through the sentences, that is work on each grammar elements.
- Read the poem at least once. Sometimes the sounds and rhythms bring out aspects you will not notice in silent reading.
Types of Poetry
There are three types of poetry, some people describe it those three as structures, rather than types, and compare the structures to those stories, songs, and plays.
- Narratives Poems: They move through a sequence of events, just as many stories do.
- Lyric Poems: They circle or hover around a subject, dwells on it, just as many songs do.
- Dramatic Poems: They have a structure that includes a development of intensity, often involving a confrontation of some sort, that reaches a climax and is followed by rapidly falling action, just as many plays do
(Schakel&Ridl, 1996, p16)
Following you will find three poems and its corresponding category.
“There is a lady sweet and kind” This is a LYRIC poem. It can be represented as a song as well, and it deals with the self thought of the poet to the sweet and kind attributes of a woman. The Love he feels for her goes beyond any border even death. The poet exalts her beauty, (gestures, motion, smile and voice)
“The Morning They Shot Tony Lopez” This is a Dramatic poem and it deals with the police entering into the scene, shooting Tony Lopez to death. It conveys with apparently a shooting of a drug dealer; ending with Tony Lopez’ life. As a play it has an exposition of how Lopez acts at the presence of the police. Then the conflict present in the shooting and how that conflict has ended with Lopez’ life. Three aspects that can be portray in a short play, using more appealing words to transmit the breaking of the police.
“Travelling through the dark” It tells a story, so it is a Narrative poem , about how the narrator and protagonist at the same time deals with the dead body of a dear along the road. He finds there is not only the dead body, but a baby deer was going to be delivered before its mother was found dead. So he has to decide and evaluate the situation on how to get rid of the dead body, save the baby dear and move the the dead body out of the road before another car stumble and consequently cause an accident putting more lives at risk.
Bibliography
- Reanz, Heather. “Grade 3.” Mrsrenzcom – Connect Learning with Real Life Using Projects and Activities in Upper Elementary!, 2020, mrsrenz.com/10-poetry-tips/.
- Schakel, Peter, and Jack Ridl. Approaching Poetry: Perspectives and Responses. 1st ed., St. Martin’s Press, 1996.
- Frederick Nims, John, and David Mason. Western Winds: An Introduction to Poetry. 4th ed., Mc Graw Hill, 2005.
- Kennedy, X.J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Student ed., Harper Collins College, 1995.
Poetry 