{"id":3018,"date":"2013-01-20T12:55:56","date_gmt":"2013-01-20T16:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arts.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=3018"},"modified":"2013-01-20T12:55:56","modified_gmt":"2013-01-20T16:55:56","slug":"lets-talk-about-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2013\/01\/20\/lets-talk-about-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Talk About Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m taking a creative writing class that is focusing on the creative side of poetry, and it got me thinking about the vastness of poetry, and what it gives us as readers. Now, I’ve been a poetry reader for a good chunk of my life, but I wouldn’t say I understood everything I read. I then took a class a year ago where our focus was analyzing poetry and prose for it’s deeper meaning, what was this writing trying to say and why? Going from an analytic mind in regards to poetry to a creative one is kind of scary. The world of creative writing is a large one, and it can entail some of the weirdest facets of a person’s mind and soul, as well as some of the greatest.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it seems that the best poets are those who have come before us, from the 18th-20th century, and let’s not forget Shakespeare. Never forget Shakespeare. Poetry from the past has become so relevant to the present it’s scary. Poems about anger, joy, love, heartache, washing dishes, just about any topic of life and death has been covered somewhere in the realm of poetry.<\/p>\n

Poetry from the past has lined up a set of expectations for poets in the 21st century to reach and overcome. It has to be creative, witty, meaningful, and somehow inconspicuous so you don’t know exactly what they’re saying, but then again you do.<\/p>\n

I read poetry because it reminds me of the romantic connection that I have with writing. It sounds silly, but when I read poetry, I feel like I’m reading a personal piece of something in someone’s mind, and some deeper connection about life and its many ups and downs is brought to light. With it there’s a rhythm, a power, that a novel can’t always get at, and a song can’t always thoroughly explain. Find a favorite poet or a favorite piece and thrive on the energy that either brings to you.<\/p>\n

To delve into the\u00c2\u00a0repertoire\u00c2\u00a0of poets then and now would be to wide a margin to cover, but I do encourage the practice of reading poetry for the sole reason that it allows its readers to take a quick and, I’m not going to lie, effort-filled journey, through a story they’ve had yet to experience. Collections of poetry are like personal notes\u00c2\u00a0addressed\u00c2\u00a0to you that open up the crooks of someone’s imagination just for you to enjoy.<\/p>\n

Here are some poems from a couple of my favorite poets:<\/p>\n

\n

Homage to my Hips by Lucille Clifton<\/strong><\/p>\n

these hips are big hips.
\nthey need space to
\nmove around in.
\nthey don’t fit into little
\npetty places. these hips
\nare free hips.
\nthey don’t like to be held back.
\nthese hips have never been enslaved,
\nthey go where they want to go
\nthey do what they want to do.
\nthese hips are mighty hips.
\nthese hips are magic hips.
\ni have known them
\nto put a spell on a man and
\nspin him like a top<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dover Beach \u00c2\u00a0by Matthew Arnold <\/strong><\/p>\n

The sea is calm tonight.<\/div>\n
The tide is full, the moon lies fair<\/div>\n
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light<\/div>\n
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,<\/div>\n
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.<\/div>\n
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!<\/div>\n
Only, from the long line of spray<\/div>\n
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,<\/div>\n
Listen! you hear the grating roar<\/div>\n
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,<\/div>\n
At their return, up the high strand,<\/div>\n
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,<\/div>\n
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring<\/div>\n
The eternal note of sadness in.<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

Sophocles long ago<\/div>\n
Heard it on the \u00c3\u2020gean, and it brought<\/div>\n
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow<\/div>\n
Of human misery; we<\/div>\n
Find also in the sound a thought,<\/div>\n
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

The Sea of Faith<\/div>\n
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shore<\/div>\n
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.<\/div>\n
But now I only hear<\/div>\n
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,<\/div>\n
Retreating, to the breath<\/div>\n
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear<\/div>\n
And naked shingles of the world.<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

Ah, love, let us be true<\/div>\n
To one another! for the world, which seems<\/div>\n
To lie before us like a land of dreams,<\/div>\n
So various, so beautiful, so new,<\/div>\n
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,<\/div>\n
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;<\/div>\n
And we are here as on a darkling plain<\/div>\n
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,<\/div>\n
Where ignorant armies clash by night.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m taking a creative writing class that is focusing on the creative side of poetry, and it got me thinking about the vastness of poetry, and what it gives us as readers. Now, I’ve been a poetry reader for a good chunk of my life, but I wouldn’t say I understood everything I read. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[89,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3018"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3027,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018\/revisions\/3027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}