Poetry is boring. At least, that is how it may look at first glance. I definitely understand why that could be someone’s first impression of a poem. As a poet and English tutor, I have definitely come across different ideas of what poetry is.
When I say “poetry,” some people may think of flowery language with a confusing structure that makes little to no sense. Other people may think of all those Shakespearean sonnets that haunted them in their English classes.
April is National Poetry Month, but if poetry is so boring, then why is it celebrated? The reality is that poetry has always mattered, and it matters today more than ever.
I like to think of a poem as if it were an egg. Many of us may immediately think of the white ovals we see at the supermarket when we hear the word “egg.” However, not all eggs look that way. Some eggs are brown with speckles and some are a mix of blue and green. Some eggs belong to quails, ostriches, fish, humans and a variety of other animals. However, no matter its outward appearance, an egg needs to be cracked open to reveal the life inside it.
Poetry is egglike in the way that it is diverse and capable of hiding something beyond its outer shell. Even if there are different forms of poetry, there is really nothing that dictates what a poem should be. It is unbounded, and people have taken advantage of its freedom by using it as an outlet for their thoughts.
Poetry has been a significant part of culture across centuries, and it’s not just because poems sound pretty. It is because poetry forces people to think on a deeper level. It is a defiance of people’s expectations, and it challenges how we think about language and ideas.
We live in an age of rapid information and instant gratification. As a result, short attention spans and the spread of misinformation have become common side effects of the digital era. Therefore, being able to sit down to focus on thinking about the intention behind the language and structure of a poem can help us think twice about the information we consume.
I compared poetry to an egg, but unlike eggs, poems are not always easy to crack open. They can require varying amounts of concentration and analysis as they are often riddled with symbolism and imagery that function as a device to convey different meanings.
The poet’s intention is not always obvious in their writing, but what matters is that the reader is able to take meaning away from the poem. For example, “Ode to the Large Tuna in The Market” by Pablo Neruda is much more than a poem praising a fish.
It uses intense imagery in the way it describes the tuna at the market as “a missile / that swam,/ now / lying in front of me / dead.” It paints the fish as a powerful weapon like a missile, but one that was stripped of that power so that it could be sold and eaten.
The poem contains several themes. The loss of power, the mysteries of nature and death are a couple that stand out to me personally. However, I can’t assert that my reading of the poem is accurate to Neruda’s intentions when writing it. The fish could be a symbol for a larger idea, or maybe it really was meant to be just a fish.
However, this process of questioning and wondering what the poet meant with their choices in structure and language is a good exercise in critical thinking. We learn how simple concepts can connect with greater ideas, and how to dig deeper into the meaning of things. This can ultimately affect how we think about the world and the people around us.
When I was a child, I was fascinated with the language and structure of poetry. However, I didn’t realize its full potential until my honors American Literature class in high school. It introduced me to different literary movements throughout the history of the United States, and how poetry is often a tool for expression that reflects and confronts the ideals of current societies.
One movement that stood out to me was Harlem Renaissance, a literary and artistic movement that saw the rise of Black creatives and intellectuals in 1920s Harlem.
The work of Harlem Renaissance poets like Langston Hughes and Claude McKay showed me that I can use poetry, not only to challenge how people think of language, but also to challenge what people thought of me.
The Harlem Renaissance defied racial stereotypes. It displayed the creativity and passion of Black musicians, artists, writers and of course, poets. Learning about it taught me that poetry can be used to introduce people to new perspectives.
The speaker in Hughes’s poem, “I,Too,” describes being excluded for being a Black man. The speaker’s response to this exclusion is the thought that “They’ll see how beautiful I am / and be ashamed- / I, too, am America.”
I remember feeling inspired by this poem. It’s short, but it manages to communicate larger themes. It displayed how Black people are more than how others view them, and it communicates a sense of pride in one’s identity despite what other people think.
This inspired me to write my own poetry that confronts people’s notions of who I am. As a Mexican American, I have seen a lot of hostility directed towards my people and my culture, but writing poetry has brought me solace. It allows me to communicate my full range of thoughts in only a couple of sentences, and I make sure to incorporate themes that are only visible to those who look for them. Sometimes, I may unintentionally incorporate certain themes into my poetry. The people who read my poems may see something in them that I didn’t at the time of writing it, and I welcome that because it means that they were able to connect with it in some way.
I believe that anyone can find meaning in poetry, as long as they are willing to look at it carefully and are open to being confronted with new ideas that could potentially oppose their worldview.
Poetry is profoundly human because no other species we know of observes the world and then decides to write about it in intricate, embellished ways for others to read and dissect. This is why it is celebrated, and why it is important today.
We live in a time of high tension and evolving technology, and having something like poetry that reminds us of our humanity is a valuable thing to have.
Therefore, celebrate your humanity and join April’s celebration of poetry by cracking open a poem. You can either check out a poetry book from your local library, explore The Poetry Foundation’s collection of free poems or try writing your own poetry, if you dare.
