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Discover the essence and power of poetry: a form of expression that reaches deep within, heals wounds, and communicates innermost thoughts to the world. See how poets define and explore love, death, religion, and more.
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Before we begin, let’s ponder on these… • What is poetry? • Do you like poetry? • Is poetry useful to you? Week One (1,2012/2013)
What is poetry? Poetry is important... It reaches inside people and heals their wounds like nothing else can. It is an escape from reality and a method of coping with reality. It's a certain feeling inside. Anonymous Week One (1,2012/2013)
"Why, Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is; but it is not easy to tell what it is." Samuel Johnson "original combination of words, distinctive sound, and emotional impact" Anonymous What poetry does to you? Week One (1,2012/2013)
What poetry really is? According to geocities.com, poetry is .. A form of expression written seeking approval from no one but read and interpreted by anyone and everyone It reveals your most inner thoughts that may never be spoken forming a deep communication to others and for you, a cherished token that you will always remember. Week One (1,2012/2013)
What do the poets say? • Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" • Emily Dickinson said, "If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry" • Dylan Thomas defined poetry this way: "Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing." Week One (1,2012/2013)
In brief, according to Mark Flanagan in About.com… • Poetry is the chiseled marble of language; it's a paint-spattered canvas - but the poet uses words instead of paint, and the canvas is you. • One of the most definable characteristics of the poetic form is economy of language. Poets are miserly and unrelentingly critical in the way they dole out words to a page. • Defining poetry is like grasping at the wind - once you catch it, it's no longer wind. Week One (1,2012/2013)
What poetry is usually about • Love – central experience in life • Death – taboo subject • Religion – mortal vs immortal • Nature – appreciate the beauty • People – families, friends • War, fight, feud • Domestic Matters – everyday themes Week One (1,2012/2013)
LOVEProof – That I did always love thee by Emily Dickinson That I did always love,I bring thee proof:That till I lovedI did not love enough.That I shall love alway,I offer theeThat love is life,And life hath immortality.This, dost thou doubt, sweet?Then have INothing to showBut Calvary. Week One (1,2012/2013)
DEATHWake by Langston Hughes Tell all my mournersTo mourn in red --Cause there ain't no senseIn my bein' dead. Week One (1,2012/2013)
RELIGIONA Child’s Thought of God by Elizabeth Barrett Browning They say that God lives very high; But if you look above the pinesYou cannot see our God; and why?And if you dig down in the mines, You never see Him in the gold,Though from Him all that’s glory shines.God is so good, He wears a fold Of heaven and earth across His face,Like secrets kept, for love, untold.But still I feel that His embrace Slides down by thrills, through all things made,Through sight and sound of every place;As if my tender mother laid On my shut lids her kisses’ pressure,Half waking me at night, and said, “Who kissed you through the dark, dear guesser?” Week One (1,2012/2013)
How to Eat a Poem Don’t be polite. Bite in. Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that may run down your chin. It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are You do not need a knife or fork or spoon or plate or napkin or tablecloth For there is no core or stem or rind or pit or seed or skin To throw away. Eve Merriam Week One (1,2012/2013)
A Good Poem I like a good poem one with lots of fighting in it. Blood, and the clanging of armour. Poems against Scotland are good, and poems that defeat the French with crossbows. I don’t like that aren’t about anything. Sonnets are wet and a waste of time, Also poems that don’t know how to rhyme. If I was a poem I’d play football and get picked for England. Roger McGough Week One (1,2012/2013)
What's the Use of Poetry? by Henry Arthur Jones (circa 1900) What's the use of poetry? Why, to live upon, when one can't get bread and cheese; to clothe and warm oneself with, when one is ragged and cold!What's the use of poetry? To keep faith and hope and worship alive in the heart of man, to reconcile him to life, to make him at home in his world.What's the use of poetry? To pour vitriol on deceit and vice, to seam and scar the detested face of hypocrisy and lies. To add hate to all things hateful and shame to all things shameful!What's the use of poetry? To give beauty to beauty, more grace to grace, more truth to truth, to deck the flowers of the field, to rain perfume on the rose and music on the nightingale.What's the use of poetry? To be a stumbling block to the worldly wise and the proud, and a camp and pillar of fire to children and the childlike. Week One (1,2012/2013)
What's the Use of Poetry? by Henry Arthur Jones (circa 1900) • What's the use of poetry? To embalm the immortal dead, to interpret this aimless Universe, to snatch the secrets of the stars, to unleash the seas and the winds, to fling a double rainbow of hope and glory across the heavens, till all the Universe shouts with one voice, and beats with one heart, and pants with one breath!What's the use of poetry? To make this wide world drunk with its' loveliness, to make this garrett a palace and me the King of Death and Fate!Poetry not real! not useful! It is you who are not real, you practical people--you herd of money grubbers, you bats, you owls, you moles, you human vegetables, who root yourselves and fatten up your dull, petty, miserable lives, and eat and drink and sleep, and buy and sell and toil in one long round of humdrum death-in-life!It is you who are not real. You were dead and huddled into oblivion before you were born; you do not live at all; you are smoke from the nostrils of death.Poetry not real! not useful! There is nothing useful but poetry, and nothing real but the poet! Week One (1,2012/2013)
So, what do you think of poetry now? Week One (1,2012/2013)
Let’s hear what you think of the following… Week One (1,2012/2013)
Would you say this is poetry? Roses are red Violets are blue I have a friend And my friend is you Week One (1,2012/2013)
Is this poetry? Getaran jiwaMelanda hatikuTersusun nadaIrama dan laguWalau hanya sederhanaTetapi tak mengapaMoga dapat membangkitkanSedarlah kamu wahai insanTak mungkin hilangIrama dan laguBagaikan kembangSentiasa bermaduAndai dipisahLagu dan iramaLemah tiada berjiwaHampa P.Ramlee Week One (1,2012/2013)
And this… Clever vs StupidPlease don't make me soundCleverI prefer to beStupidRather than be knownCleverI learnt best if I amStupid AAT, July 2012 Week One (1,2012/2013)
Now, is this poetry? Week One (1,2012/2013)
And this? Week One (1,2012/2013)
What about this? Week One (1,2012/2013)