Poetry Comparison Essay Across the world, students and adults alike struggle to read poetry. Theoretically, reading poetry seems like a simple task, so why do so many teenagers and young adults consider this to be such a difficult task? Some may consider poems to be difficult because of the vague titles, strange layouts, and uncommon language. However, many consider the main reason for poetry being difficult to understand because many pieces of poetry are symbolic. Because a majority of people are not accustomed to thinking symbolically, they often find poetry to be confusing because they take each word in a poem literally. In other words, people who read poetry cannot read poetry like they would other literary works because poetry should not be taken literally. To read poetry, one must have an open mind and think uniquely about each setting and plot of a poem. A reader of poetry must be able to take chances on a …show more content…
In other words, one should not assume that the title or the author will reflect the meaning of the poem in any way. A poetry reader may assume that the title of the poem is a direct reflection of the metaphor, symbolism, and meaning behind the poem, but this way of viewing poems is one reason why people believe reading poetry is difficult. In reality, there is such a varying range of poetry with a larger variety of deeper meanings beneath the surface. To view poems with expectations about what it will or will not mean is limiting the true potential of every poem that person could read in his or her life. Edward Hirsch describes reading poetry as “a perpetual beginning” (How to Read a Poem, 1999). Hirsch does not only describe poems this way because each poem is unique, but he also implies that one must begin each poem with a fresh, new outlook on this poem, hence the “perpetual beginning” (How to Read a Poem,
Poetry in some way, shape or form, gives realistic ideas to even objects that reflect upon a part of life by using symbolism and personification.
A poet hopes that people would appreciate their poem in a way that it is not mistreating the work’s value. In the poem “Introduction to poetry” Billy Collins describes his desires on how students should connect with poems. Collins states that students try to force out meanings out of poems instead of diving in to understand its true nature. The author creates a sensitive yet aggressive tone to convey two ways of poetry appreciation through his use of diction, personification and metaphor.
Charlotte Dymond and John Lomas, are two poems which share several techniques. They also, however are different in many ways. This essay will explore their similarities and their differences and explain reasons why the two ballads are different or similar.
The Poem “Introduction to Poetry” is by Billy Collins, an English poet, and it is about how teachers often force students to over-analyze poetry and to try decipher every possible meaning portrayed throughout the poem rather than allowing the students to form their own interpretation of the poem based on their own experiences.
Personally, I believe that the hardest part of poetry for me is finding the theme the author presents as it is always implicit. The theme is something one must deconstruct by using the devices presented by the poet. In William Stafford's “5 A.M”, the biggest challenge for me was to find the theme that was not stated directly. Theme can also be mistinturputated in many ways. Something that you may read in a poem may show a different perspective that the author is not trying to intend, and may throw you off the course of finding the theme. Reading poetry may not be as difficult as writing it for some, but personally I believe the analysation of a poem to find the theme is the most challenging aspect of
Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. Good morning Ms Linton and students, today I will be informing you on why you must choose these two poems for the poetry speaking contest. The poems I have chosen are ‘The Man from Ironbark’, by Banjo Patterson as well as ‘He Started the Cycling Craze’ by myself. Narratives help the readers enjoy and understand poetry as it is a way the poets can connect to their readers by using storylines that may relate to them or something that they enjoy.
Poetry, what first comes to mind? If your anything like me, poetry can seem somewhat monotonous, rather like a locked door exclusive, complicated, and hard to understand. I think poetry tends to be a big game of “Guess what I’m thinking!” and I hate that game. I’m not a mind-reader. I think a lot of people who get excited about poetry are really pretentious. This possibly comes from believing that they actually can guess what other people are thinking. When we think poetry, we tend to know poetry by it’s traditional forms of having sonnets, ballads, often rhyming (but not always) and they tend to have a specific and symmetrical structure (APA). Throughout this essay I wanted to consider poetry through different explorations and how subverting the traditional conventions of poetry might be an effective way of engagement or in an opposing way of demotivating the reader.
There are many people who travel a distance in life to find the path they should take or to remember the path they once took. In the poem “The Path Not Taken,” by Robert Frost and the short story "I Used to Live Here Once" by Jean Rhys there are many similarities and differences. The authors’ use of describing a path helps them personify life’s journeys and self-reflection.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by
While reading the poem “Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins sends a message to the readers that they should be patient and impartial when it comes to analyzing a poem in order to see the true meaning behind the without being over analytical. There is a revieting situation that takes place because Billy Collins is delivering his message to all readers about the way that one should be able to read a poem. This poems educates the reader on how to be able to read and plunge into a poem, through using many techniques like mood, tone, and literary devices to do so. In the first two lines Collins demands that we tackle a poem with a invigorating eye. There should be an exploration of what the poem means to us. How does this poem apply to our
Poetry is a bit tricky for me to read as well, the figures of speech can be confusing. I find it hard to find the tone as well and the underlying meaning of a poem. I have not worked much with poems in school which is
A person’s identity is determined by that person’s actions and decisions, not by how everyone else sees them. Someone’s identity is often mistaken and made into how a society wants it to be. Both “Richard Cory,” by Edwin Arlington Robinson and “The Unknown Citizen,” by W. H. Auden, deal with identity through irony, point of view, and characterization, but they do so in different ways. Both poems have a similar ironic outcome, which plays a huge role in comparison. In “The Unknown Citizen,” the man who had “everything necessary,” was tired of being a slave to routine and had a similar outcome to that of “Richard Cory,” which was death.
In the poems you have studied a recurring theme is that of ‘loss’. This can take many forms: death; identity; hope or loss of innocence
The reader must participate in the making of the poem or story by digging the structure out and create coherence out of the seeming incoherence. Therefore, the search for meaning, even if it does not succeed, becomes meaningful itself.
Some of the poems and essays I have read during this class were relatable to me. Being away from college, I have struggled with not being at home. I have become a different person when I am at school, but when I am home, I feel like I am my normal self again. Some of these authors of the poems and essays that I have read throughout this class has struggled with being somewhere where they don’t belong and that they are someone else when they are not home. Unlike the other poems and essays we have read throughout the course. I enjoyed reading the ones about “home” because I actually understood what they are going through and that I can relate. Some of these poems and essays include “Going Home” by Maurice Kenny, Postcard from Kashmir”, by Agha Shahid Ali, “Returning” by Elias Miguel Munoz and “Hometown” by Luis Cabalquinto. All of these poems deal with duality.