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| No | 16% | 312 votes | Total: 1925 votes | |
| Yes | 84% | 1613 votes |
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Add to FavoritesAs one who has indulged in this noble and ancient art, I would love to give a decisive and resounding yes to this question, and even though Nietzsche stated that "Art is more important than truth," I'm afraid I'm going to have to go with the latter: the truth is that poetry is an art form, and no art form will be significant in the 21st century, except art forms that can be directly bled by the technical world, and integrated into it in a fashion that promotes the ideology of history as technical progress.
Surely most, if not all people, whether they be just spiritual or monotheistic-ally inclined, would assert religion (or spirituality) has an infinitely greater importance to them than any art form. Yet note, that in today's "mega-church " environment (mega-Churches themselves form for economic survival), many churches have become more like complex social services with everything from singles groups to political activities. They help people function in the increasingly disorienting milieu of accelerating technical change where no decade is like its predecessor, by maintaining some facade of a place with integrity and transcendence above the fray. Sure Jesus Christ is invoked; but what of it? I see, and continue to see for the future, a tediously moralistic view where the church continues to come down on every issue from stem cells to poverty in very narrow, "black and white" terms. In other words, it has followed to the letter the same divisiveness and buzz-word simplicity of todays media-centric political battles. Certainly people continue to be saved, but the devil is more than happy to let salvation become another "personal improvement" line.
Why this prolonged interjection about the decrepit state of our spiritual world? Because poetry is first and foremost a testament of man's spirit; most of the great spiritual truths have come to us in the form of poetry: from the Upanishads to the Suwar (plural of Sura). Mr. Dylan, "the voice of a generation," was named after a famous poet, and two of the greatest European voices to stand against the dangers of the collectivized spirit, were Miloscz and Herbert, both members of that most Catholic of nations Poland (technically Miloscz is Lithuanian). Even the declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg address are suffused with beautiful poetry that has echoed the cry of freedom and dignity for different generations of humans,yet...
Ours is a deeply quantitative society: our children's school performance increasingly relies on testing MEASURES; the sports that we watch is overwhelmed by statistics from salaries to RBIs;the entire economy dances and sways to the Federal Reserves interest rate pronouncement; nothing escapes number, from the amount of genes we have mapped, to the amount of marriages we are likely to have. A society as complex as this, while not being able to eliminate subjectivity altogether, has rendered it an epiphenomenon of the sidelines of the numeric Zeitgeist, because increasing efficiency means ever greater slavery to a clock which is the faceless icon and metaphor of quantity itself.
The century will be thick with upheavals, predictions dashed and, hopefully, the worst cataclysms averted. Poetry will survive as it always have: within the souls of those whose gardens are tended not by the corporate reaper, but by the hoe of individual conscience and sensitivities, which in this global wonderland requiring increasing standardization for cross cultural efficiency, will make it a shadow of a former world whose caster has melded with the boots...
Learn more about this author, Perry Hotter.
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Yes
Poetry does matter in the 21st century? Yes, of course it does. Poetry is not only history recorded and handed down, it is a deep chasm of information, an expression for the ears. Poetry is a ritual for the hands and the mind.
Through out the centuries forms of expression through the act of writing poetry have been savored by many a writer and reader.
One of the more famous poets, Shakespeare, is testimony to this. It is a creative act of expression, which everyone on earth at some time should have the opportunity to either learn or teach to others.
Great poets of the past have given their form of expression. Given their time to help others to understand what the people and scholars of their generation were capable of producing. If not for poetry, many singers would not have songs to sing.
You cannot write a song without some type of poetic rhythm, in some form or fashion.
Repeating words generally forms the arrangements of a chorus, within a song. Thus a form of poetry that is impressed upon the listener. Poetry is many things to many people. I do believe it should be revised, within the educational system in some way.
There is no need for method, rhyme, or rhythm, as to what a piece of poetry must say. It is just an expression of what one can voice through a medium rather than just conversation with every day words.
In fact, it is the rhythm of a person's unique soul. Often poetry tells a story or in some cases as with the HIP HOP music of the youth, the words are a form of poetry, which allows them to tell their story in a way that they feel expresses themselves.
Poetry in the 21st Century has become a new way of looking at how people voice their feelings toward matters. Shakespeare is of course one great man I respect immensely his works.
Though from a point of view concerning music and using poetry in writing, I would say John Lennon had it down pat. He expressed himself and all that was around him in his life by writing songs and poems, as did Jim Morrison from band the Doors.
Poetry shall live forever. The fact that we live in another century matters not. All that may have changed according to the older generation is that we may respect words a little more.
The children of today will learn in a different manner, but the written word shall forever remain in the heart of everyone. Once, long ago, a man would write a love poem for a woman.
Today they write them about a love for anything. Mobiles as text messages are proof of this. Poetry will live forever; it is just the generations, which learn to value differences in poetic creativity.
Learn more about this author, Peta S. Cameron.
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