An Introduction to Poetry

Is poetry really that “hard” or are we just “lazy”?  Why?

We like our language clear and straight to the point. We like our stories and plays to be entertaining and to be easily understood. We expect to put in time to be able to understand symbolism and irony in either fiction or drama—why don’t we expect a poem to take an equal amount of time?  We associate “short” with easy. Why?

Consider the following short, humorous poem; is there a serious statement underlying the wit of the couplet?  Yes. What else is the speaker saying?

Fleas
Adam
Had 'em.

Poetry is often short, but it is far from easy. Take the following poem by Emily Dickinson: Much Madness is divinest Sense - (620)Much Madness is divinest Sense - (620)

Much Madness is divinest Sense

Much Madness is divinest Sense -
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness -
`Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail -

Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you`re straightaway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain –

Understanding  the vocabulary in a poem is critically important. If there are ANY words you don’t know or understand, get thee to a dictionary!  And don’t just hope to find one definition, find ALL the definitions. Poets love wordplay, puns, double meaning. Poets find it clever; we find it difficult.  Yet poets have a way of phrasing that often reveals truth, as in Dickinson’s poem.

The following poem by Stephen Crane is short, but easy:

What is the poet doing in this short, short poem? Is he being funny? Is he being cold? Is he attempting to reveal something to the reader? Is the universe meant to be “God” as conceived by most people—or is the “universe” something else in this poem?

A man said to the universe:

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

NEXT:

Textbook: page 11

Obviously, poetry [as we conceive it] no longer must have formal rhyme or even formal rhythm as in the time of ancient Greece or Rome or even “modern” Shakespeare. In fact, there is something very modern called the “prose poem,” which often looks much like a short paragraph. So what DOES poetry have to have to be considered poetry?

Exact word choice – page 12          “Music” – page 15

Figurative language – page 13        ***Questions to ask – page 17