Friday, February 28, 2014
Continuing with Poetry
Poems have been around since the time we have been able to write and have had big impacts on culture, especially in the youth. Poetry is an outlet for kids when going through hardships in their life and helps to express happiness. How have poems affected you in your youth? Do you agree or disagree that they do affect us and have an impact on us? Would you say songs impact us more than poems? Do you feel that poems are over analyzed in school and why do we analyze them so much?
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I think that songs effect us more because they are readily available. Music is literally everywhere around us, so it's hard to NOT let it influence our lives. I think that most of us have tried to read a book of poetry at one point, but we never got very far into it. I think one reason students dislike to analyze poetry is because they don't understand what the poet is attempting to say through his or her words. They have to dissect each sentence to find the real meaning behind the words that hide it. This requires an effort that most students will avoid unless they enjoy it. Therefore they do not like to analyze poetry because it requires to much time and effort.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that music has a major influence in our lives. We just cannot avoid music. It is so embedded in our culture that it is impossible to escape. Analyzing poetry does take a lot of time and effort. It is hard to get much satisfaction out of something that takes so much effort. With anything, all it takes is time. As we read more and more things, analyzing pieces of literature will become much more easy.
DeleteIn elementary school, poems were definitely not my favorite. I preferred many other types of literature. Poetry has probably affected me the most through music. Songs tend to be catchy and stick in our minds. It would be unrealistic to say that songs have not influenced our thinking and actions. I believe that I read more actual poems now than ever in the past. Songs influence us much more than poems because they are not something you have to seek out but more something that is almost constantly around us. Poetry has to be analyzed in order to get the most out of it. Analyzing poetry is taught in school because it also helps us analyze other types of literature. It will probably help many of us later in life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that music is one of our greatest resources for emotion and it is what is used the most by kids. As children, we don't always see what the poet or author meant, and when teachers are asking us to analyze things, and when we do, they tell us it's wrong because what we see is not the exact same as the author, it turns us away from analyzing and reading poetry.
DeleteColton I agree that songs influence our thinking and our actions. Whenever I'm having a bad day, it can be brightened by listening to a song that I like. I think a lot of times we associate songs with memories and when we hear those sings we remember those time and experiences we had. That is why music is so influential, because songs that we like tend to bring memories to our minds. Now there are a few exceptions where we like to listen to a song because it is catch or the beat is cool, but most lyrical songs are listened to for the lyrics and the memories rather than the actual music.
DeleteWhile i agree with what you've said, not every kid reads or writes poetry. Many turn to music or just regular books. That being said, the poems we do read can have an effect on us, depending on our current state and how relevant they are to said state. Either way, we can relate to them consistently, whether they elicit feelings from the past or present. Poems never really affected me in my youth, nor could I find many that I related to. But i do agree that poems can have an impact on us, especially the way we feel about our situation and different events. Hpwever, songs definitely impact us more than poems because it's easier to conceptualize and understand sometimes. That, and songs do not require as much effort to analyze and understand the meaning. Poems are occasionally over analyzed in school, but it's usually just because the teacher is trying to confer the knowledge of poems to the students.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you have said about poems affecting us in the current state that we are in. They affect us if we can easily connect them to our lives. I also agree that songs are easier to find connections in and that they therefore have a more profound effect upon our emotions and actions.
DeleteAndrew, I love how you brought up that the "state" we are in when we read poetry will affect the way it impacts us. That is such a true point that I failed to think about earlier. When we feel a certain emotion at some time, when we can find more of that emotion somewhere, we soak it up because it is compatible with our current mindset. This is something we often do subconsciously. When we desire to be loved, we seek it through watching the love of others in romance movies or books, but also through poems. It lets us know that what we are feeling is tangible in this world and that it is not uncommon. It shows us that we can indulge in our emotions, but at some point we will have different feelings. When we are angry at a friend, we indulge in that anger by ranting to someone else or by seeking other knowledge from works, perhaps poetry. I find this very interesting, and I am glad you pointed it out.
DeletePoetry can be an outlet. By others expressing their emotions and life lessons through poetry, they put them out there for others to use as a resource when they have the same feelings. They give this intimate way for thoughts and emotions to be seen and felt through words. Now of course, poetry is not for everyone. Just the same as broccoli is not for everyone. This is exactly why their is also music and carrots. Music can reach a much more broad audience compared to poetry. This is not only because of the many different genres, but also because the language and meaning can be easily found, even by people who are uneducated. This is something that would have definitely been true hundreds of years ago. Music was for all, and poetry reached only those who were educated. Another part of music that easily reaches people, besides just the lyrics is the music itself. People can feel emotions just by the tune in their ear. That is powerful. Both music and poetry have power in their own way, it just depends on the interpretation of the audience that will show just how much power each holds.
ReplyDeleteI have recently had experiences with poems and how they affect my life. After every basketball game our coach would share with us a poem about basketball. This poem talked about how God cares not for basketball. It is such a small activity in the grand spectrum of things, but it goes on to say that God does care for basketball when it molds his boys to men. I think this is the essence of poetry. The poem talks about two real-life applications and teaches those lessons. It teaches the idea the basketball isn't important in the grand scheme of things, but goes on to say that the lessons learned in basketball will help you grow as a person. I love this poem and this is what is so great about poetry. It plays with words and help people understand and apply life lessons, all while leaving an emotional impact on the reader.
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