Poetry.

   September 4, 2013

It’s not that poetry is bad, it’s that those that teach it – not that it is necessarily their fault by any means; they have a certain curriculum to follow – shove it down our throats at the time we begin to read. Haiku's  limericks, we are forced to do it all, starting from a young age. It gets repetitive and old. It’s like going to work, or even to school. If you do the same thing every single day of your life, in this case, a couple times every school year, you get bored with it. It begins to be less tolerable every single time you go over it in class and write one more note. Acceptable poetry is Poe poetry.

No one wants to be a pessimist, so they derive poems of happiness and rainbows - those are nice, if you’re not me. (I’m not referring to all poems either, mind you.) I desire to hear a story. Morbid and scary is entertaining; it’s different than the typical poem we were taught to read or analyze. Appropriation is more important than entertainment, apparently.

When being taught poetry, a large factor of its enjoyment is brought by the teacher teaching it. I have been fortunate enough to have a teacher that can explain the meaning of different poems, which can peak an interest. If one does not understand the meaning of a poem, it is by no means enjoyable. It’s rather irritating, actually. The poem “Terence, this is stupid stuff” by A.E. Housman was one of those irritating poems. Though entertaining because it talks about drunkards and the benefits of getting drunk, my initial lack of understanding led to an overall distaste for the poem.

As Mr. Burge began to discuss the poem in class, and the story of King Mithridates, the poem became interesting. Poetry was portrayed as though it had great influence on many lives; poetry could make one’s life better, keep people sober and on the right path, whereas alcohol makes life better until the hangover abruptly ruins everything. Additionally, the skepticism King Mithridates felt towards humanity and other people in order to endure hardships and drink poison, made the poem appear more realistic, and gave it more appeal.

Poetry can be described as a teaching of previous experiences, or a writing portraying immense emotion and truth, an interesting way to tell a story either fictional or nonfictional. There is not one correct way to describe poetry. It is used in forms of song and lyrics, to give definitions, and so on. There is not one best way to describe poetry, nor is there one way to describe all its use. Poetry is like medical terminology, it is a different language. It must be deciphered to be understood and enjoyed.