Introduction Post: On reading and enjoying poetry aka Why am I a poetry enthusiast?

[alee_grrl]

Poetry is one of the oldest literary forms and one of the most widely used literary forms. There are so many great examples from across the world, going back millennia. What has kept this literary form going strong for so long? What gets us interested in poetry? What keeps us interested in poetry? These are some of the questions I would like to explore this week, not as an amateur poet, but as a reader and lover of poetry.

We are often introduced to poetry very young in life. Rhyming is a great learning tool, or mnemonic, and it has long been used to teach children. From nursery rhymes to the fun, nonsensical hand-clap chants (or jump rope chants), to Dr. Suess’s tongue twisters and other children’s stories, poetry is often one of the first literary forms we encounter. Dr. Suess and nursery rhymes were great joys of mine as a child, and some days I will still happily sit down and read them outloud. They serve as a lovely reminder of the importance of whimsy and play, especially in the adult world.

As we grow older we leave these childish poems behind, and in my experience many forgo poetry after, unless they are required to read it for a class. I was fortunate that I discovered other poets as I grew. I moved from Suess, to Lewis Carroll, and eventually discovered Robert Frost, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Christina Rossetti. It wasn’t far from there to Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson. I didn’t equate all poems with the childish rhymes I so loved. I was also raised with a lot of music in my house, and was fascinated by the similarities between song lyrics and poems. As a result my love of poetry grew up with me.

What is it that continues to draw me to poetry? There are so many levels to this answer. As a busy adult, I love that many poems can be read and enjoyed in a smaller amount of time, than say a novel. But it is more than that, as there are short versions of other literary forms that I enjoy as well. Poetry fits into a special place in my heart though. There is something soulful about poetry, something magical in many ways. Poetry to me is thought and emotion distilled. Like a shot of liqueur poetry carries a powerful punch in its concise forms. The lyrical nature of poetry, tied as it is to the rhythm of words, reconnects me with the heartbeat of the universe. It can be a poem about riding a bike up a hill, a silly poem about nothing much at all, a brief capture of a moment in time, or the tale of an epic journey. All of them bring to me a sense of wonder and amazement. They all spark a reaction of some kind in my soul. That is why I still love poetry. That is why I am a poetry enthusiast.

The rest of this week I will be exploring topics of reading poetry. The joys of easter egg hunting (with and without annotated editions of poetry), enjoying the many layers that can be found in a poem (aka symbolism and poetry), and what makes a favorite poem a favorite. I cannot promise a post a day this week, but I will do three additional posts to this one. :)

Discussion: What drew you to poetry? What keeps you interested? What are good ways to share of love with non-poetry enthusiasts?

Comments

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

It is a really common misconception that literature for children is somehow lower quality and less serious. It can be, but some of it is truly great and deserves recognition as such. It really annoys me when people make baseless assumptions like that -- and you've just seen how I respond, backing up the quality with specific examples. Used to piss off my teachers in class, but then most of them were giving horrid advice generally, so I got into the habit of stabbing over-inflated claims with pointy facts.

I think one reason that poetry has escaped to the internet is because this is a place where you can write fanfic, download porn, and nobody cares. You can share poetry, whatever kind you want to write and read, without some academic asshole getting in your face about it -- or if they do, you can use your services troll-booting features to make them go away. Nobody has to pretend to like stuff they don't, or not like stuff they do, on the internet. So whatever kind of poetry you're into is fine. If you want to analyze Dr. Seuss or retranslate Rumi, that's all cool. I love that about this venue. It removes the bottleneck, smashes the bottle, and uses the pieces to make beachglass jewelry.

Re: Thoughts

[alee_grrl]

Your response was spot-on in my book. It's the sort of thing I generally like to do when I hear others besmirch children's literature. I'm very glad you had this response, particularly since it drew out an area of my post that I had neglected to fully outline. So thank you.

It removes the bottleneck, smashes the bottle, and uses the pieces to make beachglass jewelry.

One of the best descriptions of why the internet makes a perfect venue for so many art forms.