Poetry. What is it really?

What is poetry? Poetry is words; no it is so much more than that. Poetry is self-expression through depictions of situations and emotions by a writer. Yes, but what about the reader; what is poetry to the reader? Poetry is given value and meaning by the reader and the personal experiences and point of view brought to the poem by the reader. All of these things are true and fine but really what is poetry? According to Webster poetry is “metrical writing or the productions of a poet or a writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm or something likened to poetry especially in beauty of expression.” Thanks Webster but what is poetry in and of its self. What is the heart of poetry and how do I define it? 

That has been the guiding question for me this semester as I work through English 210 Intro to Literature: Poetry. I thought I understood poetry when I started this endeavored and described it as being the use of language in means of rhetoric and syntax to present an idea in a new creative or abstract manner. The literary style that is poetry is less about what is being said and more about how it is said, in other words a poem is a performance; because of this the interpretation of each poem becomes dependent on each member of the audience.  Sure I still agree with this but I think that poetry can do more than just be a performance and I believe that each poem has its own meaning and value without any input from the reader.

Looking at each aspect of poetry separately I think is the best way to understand that poetry is like a puzzle in that it is several pieces that must be worked together to give the full picture of what the poet is trying to get across and what the reader is trying to discover. Form first, there are limitless forms from imagery and shape poetry to the very formal sonnet to blank verse to haiku the form and style is endless but as Audre Lorde says of her poetry, “I feel I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and to share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigated pain,” (Kulii). While each poet’s personal reason for writing poetry may differ they all do have some type of reason or purpose behind it, the value of understanding the different forms can help to give light to this meaning. 

A poet’s view of poetry is different from that of the reader. The poet may view it as a form of fun or as an ink wasting toy. The responsibility of the reader is to know enough about the poet and the context of the poem to understand the message that the poem is trying to give. There is the direct message that is the words on the page but there is a sub message if you will that is in every poem. This is the implied and inferred message that is read into by the reader and is different for each person. Peter Fallon, an Irish poet who visited class stated that he asks himself, “Do I trust this poem?” That is the best question that a reader can ask of a poem, does what the direct content state agree with the implied meaning of the reader. If not why and where does the content differ? One example of this idea of form is seen in Irena Klepfisz’s poem Bashert, as she creates two smaller poems and constructs them in mirroring ways; aligning the messages to be parallel so that there is a direct conflict between the two while still giving the poem a kind of stability as it pulls the reader through.

Poetry acting as a form of self-expression for the poet can also mean acting as a way for the poet to voice ideas of political or social injustices of inequalities, in general just opinions that the poet may be uncomfortable to openly state so they place them into a poem; causing the audience to reflect upon the situation and dray their own conclusions and opinions. In the anthology Against Forgetting:  Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness by Carolyn Forche, Forche states "the space between the state and the supposedly safe haven of the personal," (Forche 31), implying the poetry is that space and saying that it is a safe place for these conflicting ideas or opinions.  An example of a poet doing this is in the poem September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden. Auden does not come out and openly describe the events implied but rather makes implications and parallels. Kate Stoltzfus described Auden’s poem as, “comparing  the human heart to a mad man writing about his lover - that humans have the ability to love in spite of imperfections with complicated, messy relationships,” (Stoltzfus).

To the reader these ideas or opinions may be accepted or denied. The function of poetry is to provide a means for the poet to invoke emotion in the reader about a particular idea/event/situation. As Emily Dickenson put it, “it [poetry] makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it.  Is there any other way," (Ryan).

Poetry is more than just any one of the parts mentioned in this reflection and so many more but it is important to understand the poetry is never just one of these pieces. Poetry at its heart is the act of a poet forming a message in some way for a reader to share or describe an emotion and reaction to that message. The poet does this through form, style, content, implied meaning, by invoking the emotions of the reader and as a form of self-expression or reflection.

Works Cited

Forche, Carolyn. Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993. 170-73. Print.

Stoltsfuz, Kate. "Notes by Niginsky." Word. Blogger.com, 03 Oct 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. <http://inspiirator.blogspot.com/2011/10/notes-by-nijinsky.html>.

Ryan, Michael. "My Favorite Poet: Emily Dickinson." Poets.org. The Acadamy of American Poets, 1997. Web. 6 Dec 2011. <http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19269>.