The thing that bothers me about Mayhew’s post (even though I have a feeling I’d agree with him 100% about the strengths and weaknesses of these poems, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we share many tastes about and attitudes toward literature) is the implicit attitude that I see there, which I feel I’ve seen in other discussions of poetry, which is that the purpose of a poem is to be wonderful. accompanied by photos – black and white They make me think and smile at the same time. Author makes the poetry even more valuable that day, hey Well, if one thing is obvious, it is that Jonathan Mayhew (and people commenting on his blog) knows little about poetry. we visitin old Ray -yeah It is most associated with poetry, however. Poetry, literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or an emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm. Not sure what a poem is. hah! Mayhew quotes from the previous laureate: “Joan and I were in Raleigh together An author's purpose may be to amuse the reader, to persuade the reader, to inform the reader, or to satirize a condition. The badness of each presentation is immediately apparent to your expert eyes. “The purpose of a poem is to be wonderful.” That seems like a reasonable statement, no? Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. These assume that the wonderfulness or funniness reside completely in the poem or joke and ignore the question, “Wonderful to who?”, If someone tells a joke and most of the people laugh, but a handful say, “That’s not funny,” who’s right? Or what is the purpose of a song? Thus, for Chesterton, one of the greatest poems ever written was, in Robinson Crusoe, simply the list of things that Robinson salvaged from the wreck of his ship: two guns, one axe, three cutlasses, one saw, three Dutch cheeses, five pieces of dried goat flesh… Poetry is our vital link with the outside world – the lifeline on which our very survival depends – and therefore also, in some circumstances, it can also become the ultimate safeguard of our mental sanity.”. … maps It’s a case study in the practical reasons why I always think these things are a bad idea. It can also provide enjoyment, fulfillment and food for thought in others, though this might not necessarily be the poet's … Check your email for the latest from BahaiTeachings.org, It is as unseeing to ask what is the use of poetry as it would be to ask what is the use of religion. If the people of the world were fair in judgement, the sweetness of thy poem should be a sufficient proof. What is the purpose of the author in writing the poetry 1 See answer pdcp042402 pdcp042402 Explanation: to be feel what the author is feeling and also to give the message of it. There is such a thing as a truly bad graph, one that misleads and confuses us. Some poems, such as nursery rhymes, are simple and humorous.Other poems may try to express some truth about life, to tell a story, or to honor a person or a god. Poetry is a unique probe and mirror of humanity—encompassing the humorous and the serious, the ideal and the real, the feeling and the meaning and the understanding of life. They shape how we perceive the world and excite us with images of beauty of moments of truth. – Abdu’l-Baha, quoted in Lady Blomfield, The Chosen Highway, p. 167. somune else got the prize with my guest book writin? It is a story how i started writing and how i become poet. OK, procrastination successful. – John Wain. Both excerpts radiate mediocrity but of course a bit of mediocrity can do the job in the context of a larger message. cummings) and to find voice, representation, community perhaps. Poetry is a window on the world, our pathway to the color and the sound and the emotion, the sorrow and the joy, the pain and the exaltation of our existence. You’re a data scientist at a local hospital and you’ve been asked to present to the physicians on communicating statistical information to patients. Just as a bad graph in the New York Times can’t confuse you, Andrew Gelman. To quote George R.R. I don’ t mean poems should make us happier, but that they should make us better able to feel emotions, which can be difficult. Reading poetry and or writing poetry can drastically improve your life, because it has improved mine. It’s one thing disliking somebody’s writing and being vocal about it. For me, almost nothing that T.S. Alongside the smoldering heap of waste.” Any time you tell a story to a friend or family member about an event or incident in your day, you engage in a form of narration. 1 See answer yhumjisoy yhumjisoy Answer: An author's purpose is his reason for or intent in writing. By that I mean that in writing a poem the intent of the poet should be to say "look at this" (the subject of the poem) and not "look at me". And this brings us to today’s topic. In reading the post I was mildly irritated by Mayhew’s use of “NC” as a generic replacement for “North Carolina.” The abbreviation is fine in some contexts but I founn it a bit jarring to read, “The literary community of NC . Just think of amount of code needed to be written to manage and analyze data to create some summary measure. Since ancient times poets have been known more for their ideas than for the words they used to convey them. So I will accept (until convinced otherwise) that these poets are indeed mediocre. 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