Article about Poetry

Poetry

                                                                         

Poetry is the combination of the best words in their order. This best order has a rhyming scheme, metrical order and imagination along with a combination of human willpower, ordinary language and sometimes a reflection of life as well as society. It should criticize and interpret human feelings and reform the lives of its readers. The vitality of these qualities should render immense aesthetic pleasure to readers.

Additionally, good poetry should have ordinary language means that the language used in the poetry must be as simple as it could be understood by the majority of people. There should be universality in the selection of words so that everyone can pick them the reader is more educated or less educated.

Furthermore, the language used in any kind of poetry must be in a specific order such that it can mark some sort of difference between simple words of general literary passage and poetry itself also. Under the umbrella of this concept, poetry can have rhyming order with its well-organized scheme and poetry may have metrical diction so that readers may observe and feels aesthetic pleasure. This metrical order and proper ordering of words help to memorize poetry in the normal context.                                      

Functions of Poetry

Firstly, arising feelings and emotions among readers is an influential function of poetry, this quality leads poetry to the divine one. Some unique features of versification are the identification of such feelings that the reader could not felt before it. Moreover, the best function of poetry is to become the cause of reformation in society, especially its reader or lover.

Secondly, a specimen of secondary imagination, means that poetry should not be only a combination of primary imagination but it must be a combination of primary plus will power of the poet as well i.e., secondary imagination. Because of this secondary imagination poets can observe and understand nature and other concepts in a better way. Similarly, artists can interpret different processes in such a simple way that would highlight every aspect of human life along with solutions to problems. 

     

Thirdly, poetry should have the ability to recreation so that it not only imitates the processes but also has a characteristic of re-organization of imagination. It means that poetry is not a copy of things but something more than it. It should be the combination of such imagination that would be imitated according to the intellectual ability of its readers.

At last, poetry and its functions are supposed to be a wider topic for discussion. Similarly, different scholars have interpreted it in several ways that depict their intellectual ability of observation and their experience with poetry along with its function.

Literature Review

T.S. Eliot states that “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. However, only those with personalities and feelings understand what it means to want to get away from these things”. Since poetry is mainly about feelings and emotions, and feelings and emotions are special, they should be written in our own language.

“Poetry is really divine,” wrote P.B. Shelley in his essay “A Defense of Poetry.” It is both the nucleus and the periphery of knowledge; it comprises all science and is to which all science must be referred. It is both the root and the blossom of all other systems of thought; it is the source of all life and the embellishment of all; and it is the source of all fruit and seed, withholding nourishment and succession of the scions of the tree of life from the barren world if it is blighted. It is everything's flawless and consummate surface and bloom; it is the odour and colour of a rose to the texture of the elements that make it up, the shape and splendour of unfading beauty to the secrets of anatomy and corruption.”

“I will describe, in brief, the Poetry of words as the Rhythmical Development of Beauty,” writes Edgar Allan Poe. Taste is the only requirement. It has no direct relationship with the intellect or the conscience. It has nothing to do with obligation or fact unless it happens to be the case.”

“Poetry is not a profession, it is a way of life,” Mary Oliver says of his philosophy. It's an empty basket; you fill it with your life and create something from it.”

From William Wordsworth's reference, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquilly gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation,

According to Matthew Arnold, “Poetry is a criticism of life; that the greatness of a poet lies in his powerful and beautiful application of ideas to life — to the question: How to live.”

William Hazlitt says, “Poetry is all that is worth remembering in life.” “The light of poetry is not only a direct but also a reflected light, that, while it shows us the object, throws a sparkling radiance on all around it: the flame of the passions, communicated to the imagination, reveals to us, as with a flash of lightning, the inmost recesses of thought, and penetrates our whole being. Poetry represents forms chiefly as they suggest other forms; feelings, as they suggest forms or other feelings. Poetry puts a spirit of life and motion into the universe. It describes the flowing, not the fixed. It denotes the excess of the imagination beyond the actual or ordinary impression of any object, rather than defining the limits of sense or analyzing the distinctions of understanding.”

Comparison Between Scholarly Definitions and Mine

As the notion of poetry is interpreted by different scholars in their context. So, there are some differences and similarities that we might possibly find among several definitions and also the following are similarities and differences between my definition of poetry and other scholars.

As far as T.S. Eliot’s concept of poetry, he talked about the feelings and emotions of the reader thus he is similar to me in this sense. Because Eliot is emphasizing the arising emotions inside the readers through poetry. In terms of differences, he believes poetry should be something that allows the reader to escape his or her personality after reading it; that is, it should transport the reader to another sense or aspect of life where he or she can no longer experience past lives, sad or sorrowful thoughts.

P.B. Shelley developed the idea that poetry is a part of divinity and that it can explain all other processes, such as philosophy and science. However, in comparison to him, I have mentioned that it should be imaginative as well as willpower, which is the main difference between us.

Edgar Allan Poe’s concept about poetry is approximately the same as mine because he says it should have rhythmical order that would feed the soul, and also there should be a combination of intellectual abilities as well. Apart from them, he hadn’t talked about truth delivered by poetry so the main point is similar to mine.

Mary Oliver focused on the idea that poetry reflects human life so in this way he is making similarities with me as I have depicted it as the reflection of aspects of life. But a difference between us is that he said only poetry leads us in the right way so that is not my point of view.

William Wordsworth’s concept of poetry is similar to mine to some extent and to some extent it is different. He focused on the tranquillity and poet’s imagination so I have also talked about will power of poets to develop it further. Also, he talked about feelings and emotions among readers so which is another similarity between us. But for differences, he only mentioned interpretation by the poet so for me it's the interpretation for readers and exercise of secondary imagination.

Matthew Arnold’s way of definition is also similar to mine because he says poetry is the criticism and interpretation of human life. So poetical ideology like to resolve complex and perpetual situations in life. But he is not similar to me in the context of the function of poetry because I have taken it as both criticism and pleasure but he proved it as only criticism.

William Hazlitt said poetry is reflected in the light of the poet so he is contradicting my point of view as I was engaging it as a reflection of human life. But he has similarities with me because he said poetry of communication of imagination thus, he is talking about the exercise of imagination no matter whether it is primary or secondary. Also, the difference between us is that he put forth the idea of imagination to lead to the other world so this is a disputed one among us.

 

Conclusion

At last, the flexible topic of poetry has a couple of definitions and interpretations and varies according to the scholars. There have been mentioned some famous poetry concepts by several thinkers. Poetry plays an important role in our lives some thinks that it must be nothing but a show-off and some have an idea which makes it divine and other has supposed that it is a way of fun and pleasure. Thus, no matter how it’s been explained but it cannot be denied that it has some role in portraying the life of people, something special that could not be attained by any other source. Poetry interprets life, demonstrates complex and philosophical concepts, gives aesthetic pleasure through verification and metrical order or rhyming scheme and it has a great part in developing the imagination of the person to transcend natural beauty either exists in the physical object of the world or abstract aspect of human life. Furthermore, apart from all other controversial interpretations related to poetry, it has explored the philosophy of mental actions and the creative power of the human mind.    

For More Articles Check This...