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Health & Fitness

Take Life By Its Throat - Write A Poem


Greenwich Education Group (GEG) invites high school students in Fairfield and Westchester counties to celebrate National Poetry Month by submitting an original poem interpreting the theme, "by the time I turn 20." For more information and entry form, visit our web site, www.GreenwichEdGroup.com, click on Academic Services and the 2014 Poetry Contest page

Robert Frost likened poetry to "taking life by its throat" and remarked, "a poem starts with a lump in the throat." William Wordsworth said, "all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility."  Plato simply believed, "at the touch of love everyone becomes a poet."  All powerful descriptors, yet the creative assignment of a poem can elicit dread, fear or boredom.

No Rules

Rather than being seen as daunting task full of hurdles, poetry can be considered the most free-wheeling and least rule-bound of all types of writing; form doesn't matter, rules can be broken and creativity is the dominant factor. Poems aren't constrained by sentence and paragraph structures, by the construct of an essay or even by many rules of grammar. In the absence of all these rules, the writer can be overwhelmed by the possibility of a blank page without boundaries. In reality, as a result of the limitless possibilities it offers, poetry has become a powerful tool in all matters of writing; studying poetry, either by writing or reading it, will help any writer to improve, regardless of the form of writing they do.

"Research shows that creativity is key to success," says Meredith Hafer, Head of the Beacon School. "Although some may view poetry as less important than analytical writing, it in fact trains young minds to think flexibly, read carefully, generate novel ideas, and grapple with ambiguity--all essential skills for the 21st century. Furthermore, there are intangible benefits to poetry, from the insight and empathy of shared experience to the sheer joy that it can inspire in readers and writers of all ages."

Connection To The Reader

Textbooks will cite various common elements of a poem such as voice, sound, form, figures of speech and stanza.  Other authorities tend to focus on elements of theme, symbolism, meter, rhythm, rhyme, simile and metaphor.  All simply are tools used by the poet as they attempt to transmit their emotion to the reader, to create a sense of connection between them.  The poem may be about feelings towards another person or about an event or nature or…the possibilities are endless. The poet can use language or words to connect with readers mentally. Imagery can be used to connect emotionally and rhythm or musicality to connect physically.  It is rare to see other forms of writing create that bound between writer and reader on all three fronts.

While some or all of the standard elements may be present in a poem, what makes poetry so unique is that none of these elements matter an iota if the imagery the author is attempting to convey isn't evoked. A technically well-written poem may fail if the pictures aren't developed in the reader's mind. A poem is an opportunity to transmit emotions and feelings between the writer and the reader of the poem.

Words Must Be Precise

Words are key in all writing but in a poem, each word counts for more. The poet is looking not simply to describe something, but also to elicit an emotional, gut reaction from the reader. The intent is to touch the reader's heart and soul, and to go beyond simple comprehension.  Poetry is meant to make the reader feel what the poet wants to convey. Therefore, poets must be economical and precise in their choice of words; skills that are extremely useful in all forms of writing.

The last element is the physical nature of the poem.  Poets can use rhythm or meter to create a sense of motion.  Alliteration or rhyming can pull the reader along if that is the poet's goal or else the poem maybe free-style or arrhythmic, evoking a different sense for a reader.  The poet can be structured or unstructured, can make a reader feel comfort through its uniformity or can create unease through the chaotic spacing and rhythms they have chosen.

Unfortunately, too many of us have only experienced poetry when forced upon us in school, with no sense of the excitement and power, the emotional pull that poetry seeks to evoke.  Classic poems can be wonderful and have stood the test of the time, but they aren't for everybody. Contemporary poetry removed the shackles and constraints and returned poetry to its basic components - words, carefully chosen, and put together in a manner that creates wonderful and powerful images and emotions. A well-written poem creates a bond between writer and reader. So next time you are editing a memo at work, or your child's essay, maybe rather than saying "fix the grammar" or "edit this down," your best advice may be "write me a poem about something you are interested in" or "go read a book of poetry; you just may like it."

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