That time of the year again...

Poetry – ‘For’ and ‘Against’ Arguments


Some Arguments ‘For’

It contains ‘hidden’ meanings

It contains symbols

It makes you think differently

It goes beyond ‘obvious’ feelings or ideas

It can change your mood

It allows you to learn a language

Some poems are good

Poems with a story are good

Poems with rhymes are good

If the subject matter is good then the poem is good

If the poem is about love then the poem is good

Writing poems is enjoyable

Having to work with language and rhyme makes you think differently when writing poems

I wish I could ‘see’ what was going on and then be able to enjoy poetry

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Some Arguments ‘Against’

Poetry is irrelevant to life in the ‘real’ world

Poetry is escapist – its ideas are too far-fetched

Poetry is too ‘fancy’ and ‘pretty’

Having to analyse a poem kills it

Having to learn and recite a poem kills it

Poets don’t intend all the meanings teachers find in the poems

Poems don’t have narratives that keep you reading (unlike novels)

Poems are too short to really get into them

Poems are too ‘open’ – there are too many possible meanings

It’s hard to know how to read a book of poems

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Poetry is irrelevant to life in the ‘real’ world

What is the ‘real’ world? And whose world?
Do we mean a business model of the world?
Do we mean that poems are not commercially valuable?
Do we mean ‘my’ world, ‘my’ version of the ‘real’?

Poetry is escapist – its ideas are too far-fetched

Are we thinking about a stereotype of poetry?
Are we accusing poetry unfairly (when film or video games do the same)?
Are we really admitting our version of the ‘real’ world is limited?

Poetry is too ‘fancy’ and ‘pretty’

Again, is this applicable to only one kind of poetry?
Might the ‘fancy’ language be of another period? Might the ‘pretty’ language actually be beautiful?
Might what sounds ‘pretty’ actually be working in subtle ways?

Having to analyse a poem kills it

Think of a sports match and the post-match analysis. Does this ‘kill’ the enjoyment of the game?
Think of an excellent meal. Does talking about the ingredients, how the dish was prepared, etc, take away from the taste?
Is there not room for pleasure in unravelling, exploring, deepening understanding?
Does everything have to be immediately understandable?

Having to learn and recite a poem kills it

Perhaps this is one of the best ways to make a piece of writing your ‘own’? The poet’s words now enter your mouth and memory. The rhythms of the words become rhythms in your body. You become the ‘life’ of the poem.

Poets don’t intend all the meanings teachers find in the poems

What do we mean by ‘meaning’? Here are some different possible ways of looking at meaning:

the answer to a maths problem; a glance between two people; Paris is the capital of France; a flashing orange light; a spot on your skin; birds flying in a ‘W’ across the sky; a flashing green light on your printer; a curtain being drawn; the figure 1,000 in a bank account; the four legs to a chair; the sound of rain on a window pane; a silence when you enter the room; a knife, a fork, and a spoon as a place setting; the chalk outline of a man drawn on the floor; the smell of toasters on C level on a Wednesday morning; red is the colour blue; an elephant is the size of an ant; Mr. Ftyephuth is a ghygigkjk; “je est un autre”; a certain chord played on a piano ...

Where is meaning located in words? (Behind, above, between, inside ... ? Before, after, now, then .... ?).

Is a word its sound? Its shape? Its number of syllables? Its dictionary definition? Its spoken form? Its written form? Whatever ‘it’ is in the mind?

Might sound and rhythm and pattern also be meaningful?

Is ‘meaning’ something permanent and hidden (like a gold coin buried in a box in the sand)? Or is ‘meaning’ multiple, changing, depending on how different parts of the poem relate to each other?

Is our frustration at not ‘getting it’ sometimes part of the pleasure and/or the ‘meaning’ of the poem?

Do we sometimes miss what is there by being too clenched, or intellectual, or anxious?

Do poets ‘put’ meanings into poems? Might poets write poems to discover what they mean to say? Thus the poet becomes his/her own ‘first’ reader?

Are we confusing what we need to know to pass exams with what Poetry really is?

Can any one poem exist on its own? Don’t all poems talk to each other?

How do we understand the ‘time’ of a poem?

Is any reading of a poem always a writing of the poem?

Might every word be a poem?