Thursday, November 14, 2013

I agree with Dana Gioia, poetry is losing its significance in everyday life. In my own life, I have observed that poetry is similar to reading books in that only people that enjoy reading them will do it. Many people cannot get into reading or poetry, and will not go out of their way to read it. I enjoy reading, but only if it something that truly grabs my attention. It is the same with poetry. I often can’t follow through with reading something unless it is interesting to me. So, I think the best way to get people to read poetry is to make it appealing to them. This is the hard part because everyone has such different taste. However, that is also the beauty of poetry. It differs so greatly from poet to poet so it is able to capture a wide variety of audiences. Dana Gioia explains some ways to make poetry a part of American public culture. First she says that when poets give public readings they should spend time reciting other people’s work. She claims this will bring admiration to poetry in general and not just the specific poet. I also believe this may help to bring more attention to poetry as a whole. Gioia also says that public readings of poetry should include forms of art beyond poetry such as music. This will get people with interest in other forms of art to come to the reading and they may become interested in poetry through the event. Overall, I believe poetry is a dying art, but if poets can find a way to bring more public awareness to poetry then they may be able to bring poetry back into the American public.  

2 comments:

  1. I'm curious....of the poems I assigned, whether in your text or in packets or even example poems on the blog--which poems stuck out to you? Which ones grabbed your interest?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like poems that are not so abstract that no real meaning can be drawn from them. I like the poems, "Not Waving but Drowning", and "Sex without Love" because I think they are both beautifully written yet their message can be understood. They are both very relevant in today's society as well. I like poems I can relate to because it makes me that much more involved. I have also always liked "The Road Not Taken" and other poems by Robert Frost.

    ReplyDelete