Many people run from poetry. They think it’s boring or
difficult to read. While many poems can be complex, others are simple,
beautifully simple. April is National Poetry Month. It was first introduced in
1996 by the Academy of American Poets to increase awareness and appreciation of
poetry in the United States. It’s website, www.poets.org,
has a wealth of information about local poetry events during National Poetry
Month and provides free educational resources to teachers for classroom
celebrations and activities. For National Poetry Month, I wanted to highlight a
few of my favorite poets and a few of my favorites of their work.
First, Robert Burns (1759-1796) is the national poet of
Scotland and one of the pioneers of the Romantic Movement. He collected and
translated many Scot folk songs. Many of us know his poem, Auld Lang Syne, which is sung every New Year’s. He wrote in Scots
language as well as English and a light Scots dialect. One of my favorites is
his poem, To a Mouse (1785), originally
written in Scots language and which we get the line “The best laid schemes of
mice and men/Go often askew.” According to a legend, Burns was inspired to
write the poem when he accidently discovered a mouse’s nest while ploughing his
field. And according to Burns’ brother, Burns wrote the poem with his hand
still on the plough (Greenblatt, 2002). It is a line which has influenced many
authors, for example, John Steinbeck’s Of
Mice and Men (1937) and Sidney Sheldon’s The Best Laid Plans (1997). Singer and songwriter, Bob Dylan once
cited Burns’ poem A Red, Red, Rose (1794)
as the source of his greatest creative inspiration (Simpson, 2009).
Second, Robert Frost (1874-1963) is a four-time winner of
the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, a Congressional of Medal recipient (1960) and
the poet laureate of Vermont (1961). One of my favorite poems is Mending Wall (1914), a complex poem with
several themes including the distances and tensions between men. The poem
contains many contradictions about life and humanity. For example, the role of
boundaries in society that both separate and join as man makes and breaks those
boundaries. The most famous line from this poem is “He says again, “Good fences
make good neighbors” which is a proverb that appears in difference cultures in
various forms. Another favorite poem of mine is The Road Not Taken (1916) which is about a divergence of paths both
literal and figurative. It is one of his most famous and misunderstood poems.
Most people think it is about following your own path; however, Lawrance
Thompson, a Robert Frost biographer, suggested that the narrator is one “who
habitually wastes energy in regretting any choice made: belatedly but wistfully
he sighs over the attractive alternative rejected” (Thompson, 1959). It has been said that this poem was based on
his friend, Edward Thomas, who in Frost’s own words, “whichever road he went,
would be sorry he didn’t go the other” (eNotes.com).
Lastly, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is best known for being
a relative recluse for most of her life at her family home in Amherst,
Massachusetts. She was a prolific writer, corresponding with numerous friends
and writing an approximately 1,800 poems. Most of her poems were discovered
after her death. Her poems were unique for her time as she wrote in short
lines, typically lacking titles and often used slant rhyme. Slant rhyme is rhyme in which either the
vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables are identical, as in eyes, light;
years, yours. Many of her poems deal with the themes of death and immorality.
One of my favorite poems is Hope is the
thing with feathers which contains the imagery of hope living inside the
soul and never stops singing despite the cold. “Hope is the thing with
feathers/That perches in the soul, /And sings the tune without the words, /And
never stops at all.” Another favorite of mine is If I should die which contains the imagery of the peacefulness and
natural aspect of life and death. The circle of life and how life continues
when we’re gone. “If I should die, /And you should live, /And time should
gurgle on.”
In conclusion, poetry is a beautiful artform which can be
appreciated by all. From the very complicated to the simple, poetry speaks to
everyone. It is not just for the intellectual or the educated. It can be used
to encourage, to inspire, and to be a call for change. Poetry uses unique
language with sounds to convey images and messages. It is about what we
experience in life and what we observe. I highly recommend checking out
different poems and poets. You may be surprised to find one who speaks with
imagery you enjoy, and which inspires your heart and soul.
References
eNotes.com "The Road Not Taken.” www.enotes.com/topics/road-not-taken/in-depth.
Retrieved March 25, 2019.
Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. 2012. The Norton Anthology of
English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. D. New York: W.W. Norton. Print.
Simpson, R (5 October 2009). Bob Dylan names Scottish Poet Robert Burns as his biggest inspiration.
London: Daily Mail. www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1069069/Bob-Dylan-names-Scottish-poet-Robert-Burns-biggest-inspiration.html.
Retrieved March 25, 2019.
Thompson, L (1959). Robert
Frost. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
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