Poetry

While both of these readings are mainly "how to" articles about writing poetry, they each have their own ideas, tips, and necesities on writing poetry.

In Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook, she starts out by comparing writing poetry to a romantic experience, similar to the story of Romeo & Juliet. I found this really interesting, it is a connection I have never made, though it is one that that makes a lot of since. The idea that writing without the ambition to write well is only "flirting" with writing was interesting to me. I am definitly not someone who writes very poetically or artisticly, and I've never really had the ambition to change this. According to this author, I will never do more than flirt with writing. It's an odd thought, though it is one that I agree with. My writing not be the best, but it is somthing that I enjoy doing. However, I write for my own satisfaction, not for somthing to show anyone else, so I feel that my current "relationship" with it is okay.

To get back on topic from that little tangent, the writer also points out that there has never been so many opportunities to get published as a poet, which is interestingly true. I think we take for granted all the opportunities we have today that people in the past would have loved. Today, a poet (or a singer or photographer for that matter) has opportunities that people in the past could only have dreamed of. You don't need to be rich or from a "good" family to become reputable.

This writer also beleives that to write well, one must read many, many examples of all types of poems. Imitating well written poems can help inspiring writers to become better as well.

When it comes to the "sound" section of this writing, I found some things to be interesting (such as w can sometimes be a vowel???) but most it went well over my head. I understand what she is trying to say about the sounds and feelings of different letters, though I would never know where to begin to use this. These concepts make since, and peak my interest slighly, though I don't know that I would ever think about it enough to make these concepts useful in my writing.


Housman's TheName and Nature or Poetry, had some different, yet equally interesting ideas. To me, this reading felt less like a "how to" paper and more like a history of interesting facts of poetry. The first thing this author pointed out was that the four old english poets were all mad. He then suggests that perhaps intellect can actually hinder good poetry. This reminded me of our class discussion on Einstein's creative process. He too thought that creativity came in a mind state that acutally comes before thought.

In this reading, another interesting idea was that poetry can be even better if it lacks meaning. I'm not sure if this was the exact point the author was trying to get across, but that's what I think he ment when he said, "That mysterious grandeur would be less grand if it were less mysterious."

There is one poem excert that I perticulary like. That is:
"Sorrow, that is not sorrow, but delight;
And miserable love, that is not pain
To hear of, for the glory that redounds
Therefrom to human kind we are."