Surfing the internet this week for inspiration for my post and googling poetry, I came across an article on the Huffington Post website called “Why Poetry Is Necessary” by Roger Housden and was immediately intrigued. After doing the Poetry Circles, I can definitely reflect on the same elements of poetry as Housden does in his article. He discusses how a person is never the same after reading a poem that speaks to their life directly, bringing a person clarity, making them feel open, and confirming a sense of truth. This exact experience happened to me after I read Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” which has given me clarity and has helped me find peace and confidence in my college decision.
Poems serve a greater purpose than to just appeal and relate to its reader. While some poems may have no personal connection to its reader’s life, they can still have an equally meaningful effect. Housden says, “Its (poetry) effect is to illuminate our lives and breathe new life, new seeing, new tasting into the world we thought we knew. Poetry bids us eat the apple whole.
To eat the apple of the world whole, we have to learn to pay attention; not only to the inner promptings of the imagination, but to the physical world around us.” Before our Poetry Circles, I could not fully understand the words of Housden. However, after I read the poem “Someone Told the Wild Geese,” I completely agree with his statement. This poem focuses on geese sensing/being told that the seasons are changing, and the cold of winter is coming. With the author’s use of alliteration of the “s” sound, vivid visual and olfactory imagery, and repetition of “someone,” the poem urges the reader to focus on the atmosphere in the poem, painting a picture and allowing the reader to feel a part of the poem. Geese migrating for winter certainly does not apply directly to my life, but it does make me “breathe new life” and get a taste into different aspect of the world.
Reading the Huffington Post article by Roger Housden was a nice way for me reflect on our week of Poetry Circles and fully appreciate the existence and power of poetry!
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