Barry, I played at writing poetry when I was in high school, it wasn't very good.. But I never really appreciated it as a whole until one course I took in college to meet my non-science requirements. The instructor was a guy who was passionate about poetry, and perhaps his enthusiasm drew me into a different consideration of the form. Much like a Charlie Rose interviews on PBS. His guests range from a variety of fields and interests. They may be builders, artists, politicians, military leaders, retailers, or athletes When they are passionate about their work it comes across well. Many interviews I have seen would capture my attention in spite of what initially seemed like and unlikely and uninteresting subject. They mentioned the same thing on This Old House - they found that when tradesmen who were not regulars on the show were talking about their work, they were comfortable talking on camera, and their knowledge and passion came through to the audience.
Poetry is about imagery and emotion. It tries to evoke a certain state of mind in the reader. It is on a second level a kind of puzzle with words. It is a game for the reader to puzzle out hidden meanings and allusions in the words. Sometimes the effort is worthwhile and sometimes it is not. Sometimes the craft of the puzzle is enough, but mostly with better poetry, the author has something to say, some deeper level of thought hidden among the words. You might ask, why don't they just say it out loud? Creating those different levels is the art of poetry, the combination of imagery, emotion, and puzzled meanings. The process of looking for the meaning impacts how it considered and thought about by the reader. If these attributes are not present it isn't poetry, even if it rhymes. I can understand that you don't appreciate it, not everyone does. I wonder however, if you had met someone as interested and passionate about the form as my one instructor, if you might not feel different about it. Ed Frank "Beauty is a summation of the parts working together in such a way that nothing is needed to be added, taken away or altered." Elio Caretti ----- Original Message ----- From: Barry Caselli To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, December 25, 2009 11:00 PM Subject: RE: [ENTS] A little story I think it's poems such as that one, that are the reason I never could appreciate poetry. That one there doesn't make a bit of sense to me. The words are all wrong. But obviously a lot of people love poetry. So I'm sure it's just me. I'm glad you guys are enjoying those poems anyway. "Beauty is a summation of the parts working together in such a way that nothing is needed to be added, taken away or altered." Elio Caretti -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
