(no subject)
When Professor Kuin conceived the idea that we should survey friends and family members about whether or not they had an appetite for poetry, I jumped right to the occasion. I quickly called up all my friends and annoyed my brother with "whys" until he basically told me to f#%* off. Regardless, I found some really interesting results.
Originally, I half expected all my friends to give me one-worded answers, being either "yes," or "no," and when asked to elaborate, I was sure I'd get replies such as, "poetry is boring" or "I just like it, okay?" However, to my delight, I got some rather peculiar replies. My brother told me that he hated poetry because he thought it was pointless, insignificant, and boring. His exact words were: "It's always about some guy who felt some shit and thought he should write it down." He said that he had no interest whatsoever in reading what other people felt at a particular moment in their lives about either the poet themself, someone they knew or about what was going on in the world because although he can relate to it, it doesn't mean anything to him personally. He also mentioned that through going to school, reading poetry has become a chore and something he does not take great pleasure in. I was able to relate this feeling to another one of my friend's comments who said that she enjoyed reading modern or contemporary poetry because it's relevant. However, she finds older poetry to be a bore because she has difficulty understanding the language and consequently the meanings of what she is reading. I personally think we've all experienced that feeling of frustration when reading an ancient poem with fading English. It's that feeling that turns into either annoyance or boredom after reading the same poem over and over trying to understand what it means but never gaining new insight. It's the same feeling that probes us to give up.
On the other hand, I discovered that quite a few of my friends found poetry to be a challenge yet exciting and rewarding at the same time. I discovered that this was due to their fascination and interest in the art of words and how well it reflects human thought and emotion. One of my friends said that "poems can display people's inner thoughts in a more abstract way," so that we can learn in further detail more about our emotions, consciousness and the connections that we can draw from other people's interpretations of the same things.
I guess I came to the same conclusions as everyone else, in that many people only like poetry when they can understand it. However to understand it, it takes a lot of effort and patience on the part of the reader and many people give up too early on because they don't believe the reward in the end will outweigh the work they did to get there.
On the topic of the Hallmark poem, my first inclination was to laugh out loud because it was so cheesy and ridiculous that it is hard to imagine anyone ever writing that and stamping the word "poem" on it. But then I remembered a poem that I wrote back in the eighth grade that went something like this:
I sit here alone, alone in the dark.
I sit here because of a big broken heart.
I can't bear this pain, it's worse than Hell.
I long for the day where I will feel well.
The evenings are tough, as well as the night.
I lay in bed, waiting for light.
I know that my heart is forever torn,
But soon my happiness will be reborn.
So I conclude this poem, only to say,
I miss you so much, why couldn't you stay?
After reading this poem I wrote so many years ago, I came to the realization that the author of the Hallmark card must be a desperate 13-year-old or just a person who is incapable of expressing him or herself with any kind of originality or actual meaning. However, I think that we need to see this poem for what it is - a poem written for a universal consumer. The author obviously cannot be too unique or write outside of a cliché because the poem needs to speak to millions of people. It needs to get the emotions of love across quickly and easily and the card does that exactly. Not everyone would understand a Shakespearean sonnet or a poem by Wordsworth, nor would everyone understand some abstract concept of what love is in the eyes of one person. Not many people would want to take the time to understand it either. Therefore, the poem needs to be simple and efficient, which this one is. I personally think it's crap. It's annoying to read structurally, it's painful to hear orally, and it's heartbreaking artistically, but I can't help laughing at it and getting some sort of sick pleasure from it.
Originally, I half expected all my friends to give me one-worded answers, being either "yes," or "no," and when asked to elaborate, I was sure I'd get replies such as, "poetry is boring" or "I just like it, okay?" However, to my delight, I got some rather peculiar replies. My brother told me that he hated poetry because he thought it was pointless, insignificant, and boring. His exact words were: "It's always about some guy who felt some shit and thought he should write it down." He said that he had no interest whatsoever in reading what other people felt at a particular moment in their lives about either the poet themself, someone they knew or about what was going on in the world because although he can relate to it, it doesn't mean anything to him personally. He also mentioned that through going to school, reading poetry has become a chore and something he does not take great pleasure in. I was able to relate this feeling to another one of my friend's comments who said that she enjoyed reading modern or contemporary poetry because it's relevant. However, she finds older poetry to be a bore because she has difficulty understanding the language and consequently the meanings of what she is reading. I personally think we've all experienced that feeling of frustration when reading an ancient poem with fading English. It's that feeling that turns into either annoyance or boredom after reading the same poem over and over trying to understand what it means but never gaining new insight. It's the same feeling that probes us to give up.
On the other hand, I discovered that quite a few of my friends found poetry to be a challenge yet exciting and rewarding at the same time. I discovered that this was due to their fascination and interest in the art of words and how well it reflects human thought and emotion. One of my friends said that "poems can display people's inner thoughts in a more abstract way," so that we can learn in further detail more about our emotions, consciousness and the connections that we can draw from other people's interpretations of the same things.
I guess I came to the same conclusions as everyone else, in that many people only like poetry when they can understand it. However to understand it, it takes a lot of effort and patience on the part of the reader and many people give up too early on because they don't believe the reward in the end will outweigh the work they did to get there.
On the topic of the Hallmark poem, my first inclination was to laugh out loud because it was so cheesy and ridiculous that it is hard to imagine anyone ever writing that and stamping the word "poem" on it. But then I remembered a poem that I wrote back in the eighth grade that went something like this:
I sit here alone, alone in the dark.
I sit here because of a big broken heart.
I can't bear this pain, it's worse than Hell.
I long for the day where I will feel well.
The evenings are tough, as well as the night.
I lay in bed, waiting for light.
I know that my heart is forever torn,
But soon my happiness will be reborn.
So I conclude this poem, only to say,
I miss you so much, why couldn't you stay?
After reading this poem I wrote so many years ago, I came to the realization that the author of the Hallmark card must be a desperate 13-year-old or just a person who is incapable of expressing him or herself with any kind of originality or actual meaning. However, I think that we need to see this poem for what it is - a poem written for a universal consumer. The author obviously cannot be too unique or write outside of a cliché because the poem needs to speak to millions of people. It needs to get the emotions of love across quickly and easily and the card does that exactly. Not everyone would understand a Shakespearean sonnet or a poem by Wordsworth, nor would everyone understand some abstract concept of what love is in the eyes of one person. Not many people would want to take the time to understand it either. Therefore, the poem needs to be simple and efficient, which this one is. I personally think it's crap. It's annoying to read structurally, it's painful to hear orally, and it's heartbreaking artistically, but I can't help laughing at it and getting some sort of sick pleasure from it.