Seven Reasons to Try Poetry
Poetry is awesome! OK so yes, I’ll admit to you that as a singer-songwriter, I am innately biased towards poetry. You can check out my music website https://crystalwebermusic.com/ to learn more about that. Music and poetry do go hand-in-hand. After all, it was Dennis Gabor who once said, “Poetry is plucking at the heartstrings, and making music with them.” However, there are many reasons that poetry is a wonderful thing for anyone, and not just for writing and/or music enthusiasts. Because March 21st is World Poetry Day, I decided to make it the theme of this week’s blog post. Therefore, today I’ll be going over seven reasons why you should try reading and/or writing poems.
Why Poetry is Good for the Soul
1. It is a form of therapy.
The act of simply getting the words out of our heads and hearts and onto that paper might be intimidating, but it can be extremely freeing. As humans, we have a lot of powerful emotions swirling around within us at any given moment, and sometimes we don’t know how to handle them all. Poetry is a healthy way to unload some of it so we feel less burdened by it. It helps us to safely express ourselves in a healthy manner. As William Wordsworth said, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” As is often the case, once we can get those great big feelings out of us, we are able to objectively look at the situation which inspired them in a more calm and contemplative manner. Because it is so therapeutic, some therapists have begun to incorporate poetry into their sessions. This makes sense since poetry can help with expressing and unpacking feelings.
2. It helps develop important life-long skills.
Some teachers utilize poetry into their teaching plans because of its many advantages to students. Studies have shown that poetry can help children develop their communication and speaking abilities. Robert Frost said, “Poetry is what gets lost in translation.” Studying poetry can organically lead to a better understanding of syntax, vocabulary, metaphors, and much more. That is all in addition to the more obvious advantage in that it helps us naturally become more creative.
3. Every word counts.
Because poetry is so comparatively short when compared to other works of literary feat, it must get straight and to the point. No rambling paragraphs or seemingly aimless soliloquies here. There is simply no time. It also forces the reader to dig deeper and search for the bigger meanings held within every single word. One could compare the quickness in which we pass through a poem’s life-span as akin to the fleeting speed of time that we discover we have in each of our own lives.
4. It provides a safe escape from reality.
Sometimes we just need a break from real life. Much like any good book or movie can provide a temporary reprieve from the hustle and stress of everyday life, so can poems. I’m reminded of a quote by Carl Sandburg that goes, “Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” We don’t know if what we are reading from the poet spans from something real (an echo) or if it was imagined (a shadow), but either way, it gives us a momentary break by taking us on an adventure within the bounds of our own minds and emotions.
5. It can be ingested in bite-size chunks.
Unlike novels, which require a large time commitment to ingest, poems can sometimes even be read in as little as a couple minutes. The length of poems will vary greatly. As some of you may know about me, I love reading, so an epic-length novel won’t scare me off, but at certain points in our lives we don’t have time for that even if we wanted to. In moments like those, a poem may offer a natural compromise which allows us to take a deep dive into the literacy ocean, while still being able to quickly reemerge and carry on with the rest of our day.
6. We learn the rules and then can break some rules.
In writing, there are so many rules which we must learn. Poetry is no exception. But with most types of writing, the rules must be strictly adhered to. A cool thing about poetry is we are allowed to break some of the rules. A key item to notice is that I said some, not all. This does not give free reign to create a chaotic, disorganized mess. Rather, we are able to use the tactics of rhythm and rhyming to tell our story, our way. Because after all, isn’t it fun to break a few rules every now and then? With poetry, we get to break some rules without a risk of anyone getting hurt.
7. It helps us to express ourselves.
Words are a powerful tool at our disposal. They are free and any one of us can use them. With poetry, there is freedom. We can use it to be creative, let out pent up emotions, express our thoughts, and so much more. We can use the words and stories within the poems we write to help others understand us a little bit better than they might have otherwise. As Salvatore Quasimodo said, “Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal which the reader recognizes as his own.” After all, many of us are a lot more alike than we may originally have thought. Not one of us is ever truly alone in this world. But if we constantly keep our thoughts and feelings under lock and key, how will anyone ever really get to know the real us?
Ready to Write?
Life is made up of a series of events, one after another. Some are tied together, some are not, but they all combine to make us the people we become. Poetry is one way that we can capture those moments in time, those memories we make, those big feelings that we need to express. As Carl Sandburg said, “Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during the moment.” Much like with song lyrics, when people read a poem, there will often be different interpretations of the meaning of it which is often because people can’t get inside the head of the author, so they are left to bring in their own experiences and emotions as they decipher what they read. Some words span from our own memories, others from moments experienced by those around us or we hear about, and others are inspired by the imaginations crafted within our sleeping dreams. Thus, poems can evolve into multiple lives which reach far past the initial moment that inspired the words on that page.
Are you feeling inspired to grab a pen and paper and scribble down some words yet? I know that I am, so I think it’s now time for me to go work on writing another song.
Questions, comments, or just need to chat? Send me a direct message via LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram.
Cheers until next time,
Crystal
