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Writing poetry and Writing about poetry are two different things at opposite ends of the scale because they have different objectives. You can say that they are the same, but in doing so, your attention is only drawn to one: You cannot write a poem but also write about it. The mystery behind poetry contributes to its poetic quality, as it leaves the reader uncertain about what will happen next or what the author means by a particular line. For example, if you are using Chat GPT to write a paper, you know every word that is going to belong next, whereas going off the fly, you are bound to make mistakes.
I say this because writing about poetry requires an analytical lens that follows poetic styles and explores emotional depth or symbolic images that emerge as a result of the poem. Your objective in writing about poetry is to analyze it and interpret the poem. The poem you are analyzing is likely not your own and, therefore, subject to an entirely different thought process, or, like some poets, a sporadic style. Your focus remains on poetic devices and hidden literary meaning. The analysis is on "why" instead of "how" because "how" is a question for the writers, which we are not.
Writing poetry is much different because everything is at our fingertips and our say so. We are the creators and it is up to our creativity to create rhetoric and evoke emotion through the poem. The poetic style and choice is up to us to choose. We can choose to rely on figurative language or form. It can also be said to abandon form and roleplay insanity through poetry. The expression of emotion can be through any avenue we choose to, or choose not to. "TO BE OR NOT TO BE, to write or not to write."
Hi Jackie, I really enjoyed reading your perspective regarding writing about poetry in comparison to writing poetry. I also really liked the quote you have selected "To be or not to be, to write or not to write," since it represents the question at hand when attempting to compare and contrast the differences between analysis and creation. When I ponder these questions, I have always been a firm believe that any type of literature is subject to the interpretation of the reader, and poetry is not exception. When analyzing poetry, every reader has their own ideology which causes differences in analysis depending on who is examining the text. Similarly, when crafting a poem the writer is creating the literature from their own creativity and emotions which also makes it unique to them. However, as you have stated when analyzing poetry it is much harder to be creative and expressive since as the examiner, we are prompted to view the text in ways that are concerning of the poems structure, rhyme scheme, and finding the meaning being why it was written. As a prospective teacher, I would argue that both of these practices are important to incorporate in the classroom, because although writing poetry and writing about poetry are seemingly different, both applications will help the reader/writer grow in both operations.
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie, I really enjoyed reading your response. I think you did a great job in encapsulating your true opinions on poetry and even followed up with evidence. I think the one thing I really dislike about poetry is that we are told that it is “up to interpretation” but then within the same breath we are told that there are wrong interpretations. I think that's why it has been very infuriating with me explaining poetry and having to argue for a certain point. I agree with you on how beneficial making these interpretations are coming from a critical point of view, whether that is analytical or not. Being the writer is much more helpful in controlling the narrative. It's so hard to continue this ideology. I hope you continue to explore this topic as I think you have so many amazing perspectives.
ReplyDeleteHello Jackie,
ReplyDeleteI like how you said that writing about poetry requires an analytical lens that follows poetic styles and explores emotional depth or symbolic images. I’d specifically like to talk about the emotional depth because I find it to be a crucial part in writing about poetry. I think it’s important because many people can have different interpretations of a poem and how it makes them feel. A big part in understanding word choices is understanding how they make you feel because that is what gives an individual their own perspective. I also agree that when writing about poetry you can make mistakes because again it’s based on your own interpretation and it might not always be accurate to the poet's actual meaning. I personally found it easier to write poetry because as you mentioned it is at our own fingertips and we are in control of what we choose to write and how.