National Poetry Month

As some of you may know, April is National Poetry Month. Many a student cringes with the mere mention of the word 'poetry', but they needn't do so. Poetry is a way to express your passions and your pain in a creative outlet that is usually short and readily absorbed by the reader. The poem can be structured in one of the many formal forms or you can express yourself in free verse. Poems can rhyme or not. Traditional forms of poetry include the sonnet, epic, palindrome, acrostic, limerick, haiku and free verse.
     The great thing, I think, about poetry is that anyone can write it. All a person needs is the desire to express themselves through some form of verse. Poetry can be fun. There are so many forms to choose from; you could write dozens of poems and never use the same structure twice!
     Some poets tell a story with their poetry; some express only feelings or ideas. Shakespeare, Browning, Byron, Tennyson, Poe, Dickinson, Whitman, Longfellow, Dunbar, and Angelou are all names synonymous with poetry. But what about names like Dylan, Jackson, Nelson, Ice-T, Eminem, Adele, Lorde? All of these singer-songwriters are also poets; they just set their poetry to music. Poets and poetry can inspire people to love, to create, to sing! Writing poetry can help people deal with grief, depression, and other melancholic feelings. Poetry can also express patriotism, glee, and eroticism.
     As a reader of poetry, you may think some poems are better than others. That is perfectly okay. You may not like the very structured poems. You may prefer happier or shorter poems. The library has an array of books of poems. If you would prefer, you can search online for poetry. The best way to find out which types and poets you prefer is to read, read, read! After you finish reading, ponder what the author is saying. After all, that is what poetry is for, making you think about life, death, love, hate, and all of the other emotions that go along with the human experience. I am going to leave you with two poems that I copied from www.bartleby.com (a wonderful resource for finding not only poems, but other works of fiction and nonfiction).

The first poem is from the Sonnets From the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861).

(XLIII.)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.        200

I love thee to the level of everyday’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use        205

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.        210

The next poem is Ships That Pass In The Night by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906).

OUT in the sky the great dark clouds are massing;

  I look far out into the pregnant night,

Where I can hear a solemn booming gun

  And catch the gleaming of a random light,

That tells me that the ship I seek is passing, passing.        5

My tearful eyes my soul’s deep hurt are glassing;

  For I would hail and check that ship of ships.

I stretch my hands imploring, cry aloud,

  My voice falls dead a foot from mine own lips,

And but its ghost doth reach that vessel, passing, passing.        10

O Earth, O Sky, O Ocean, both surpassing,

  O heart of mine, O soul that dreads the dark!

Is there no hope for me? Is there no way

  That I may sight and check that speeding bark

Which out of sight and sound is passing, passing?        15