short response

Name: Talal Bazheer

Date: 08 /04/2016

Course: ENG 1002

What Poetry Is

Poetry is a collection of poems written by a single person. It differs from an anthology because an anthology is a collection of poems written by many different people. Poetry is the flow of ideas in a verse which attempts to say something about any phenomenon by use of styles that relates to the environment, a feeling or an encounter. Poetry is a deep river that flows carrying every feeling deeper than the depth of an ocean when a reader readers. A poem is a piece of writing structured in short lines that have syllabic pattern grouped into stanza where each stanza has its idea connected by the artistic flow and chronology of events as crafted by the poet. Poetry combines language, style, and music at the same time. There are poems that are a ballad, and some are lyrical (Rifenburg 4). Ballad poetry is written short line and possess some musicality and are narratives to mean they tell a story while lyrical poetry is structured in short lines and they possess a significant rhythm and are to be recited and sometimes sang. Poetry must have an idea or a conflict that makes the writer write about. The poet creates a conflict, allows it to reach climax but must take the responsibility of solving the problem at the end. Poetry must speak in a special language and must provoke feelings when read by a person. For example, the poem; ‘Phenomenal Woman' by the late Maya Angelou is one of the best that can be read several times a day without bringing any boredom for it has and will always remain relevant no matter the shift of time. Maya writes this poem about a woman who has the qualities that she knows and understands that are the best. She describes the woman as an iconic element funneled from without to sapphire the earth for her elegance and supernatural succulence that no one can ever imagine. The persona talks of something that is in her that nobody can explain. Through the vivid description championed by her beauty, she can tell the readers that whatever it is that leaves everyone in awe is her beauty. She says that that thing that amazes everyone is in the flash of her teeth, for the ride of her breasts and in the swing of her hips. She demonstrates how men are surrounding her for this spectacular thing that sparkles when she melts in a dance for she possesses some honey hive that anyone would want to stay close to. Therefore, the poem is a ballad since it narrates the story of the Person's beauty. The poem also evokes some moods that are so nice. In fact, the tone of the poem is inspiring since the beauty of the persona just leaves a reader so full of life and positivism about beauty.

What Poetry Should Do

Poetry is a medium of communication written in verse form where the writer uses a lot of special cues to communicate to the audience. Therefore, there are many things that poetry must do and these are, and not limited to:

Poetry must be able to educate someone about an idea of interest which in this context is a beauty. The poem educates the readers about what Maya thinks beauty is. In fact, Maya just implies that beauty cannot be described in one poem because it is that bid and diverse.

Poetry Must Evoke Emotions-poetry must make someone feel something that evokes desirable moods. These could be a feeling of happiness, loneliness, love, sadness, inspiration and so on. The extent to which the poem could provoke a reader cannot be quantified because not all poems will touch everyone. For the case of ‘Phenomenal Woman’ by Maya Angelou, it is evoking a feeling of both love and inspiration

Poetry should advocate for morals and abhor vices-poetry is media and must be able to tell the society on the moral principles that are congruent to the standard accepted virtues in the society (Burt 3). There are several poems that have been criticized for advocating for vices in the society. For example, a poem that instead of talking about rape as a very bad thing, the persona narrates a story of how they are happy that they raped a seven-year-old girl. Therefore, poetry must be sanitized by good morals.