by M. Joseph

Created on: February 11, 2009

From the oldest of times the poet has been a necessary part of society. In ancient times knowledge was passed verbally in the form of poetry. In the middle ages and the Renaissance poetry developed into the mainstream form of literature and even acting. From then up to today poetry has continually evolved. Today, although much less prominent or sought after than the poets of older times, the poet plays an integral role in society. And if that role were not filled, we would notice it.

Poetry is so often thought of just in the sense of a Robert Frost verse or a Dickinson poem. We forget that poetry exists in many forms. If the poet ceased to exist in society, we would have no songs. Songs are lyrical poetry. Although we, and usually the artists writing and performing songs, don't think of singers or songwriters as being a poet, however they are. Shakespeare is famous for his sonnets, plays, and poems, however he also wrote music. Many ancient poems have a cadence that allowed them to be easily song. As long as words have been put to a meter, people have had the desire to spice them up with music and/or singing. Without our "lyrical" poets, our car rides would be much less exciting.

The next interesting point is, that even the highest functions of our society call for poets today. At his innaguration, President Obama called on a poet to read for that day. Poets are also called on to write for commercials and advertisement schemes, because poetry catches the ear. Think of how many jingles you can think of that, even though they have music and are sung, really don't match the music at all and are simply a poem. Or the ones that have no music, many companies have little rhyming slogans that we remember, because remembering a poem is easier than remembering prose.

Where do we find poets these days? Although there are many poets who have successful writing careers, poetry is becoming more mainstream. There are more people writing poetry now than ever before. With the advent of the free verse, and our stepping away from the antiquated ideology of any poetry besides that which followed the old rules doesn't count, we have opened the doors to many new and exciting forms of poetry from new and exciting poets. Those who discount the small time poet forget that those poets we praise today, many times were not the mainstream poets of their day. We remember the Whitmans, the Dickinsons, and even the Bukowskis. We should do nothing to discourage the large number of avant-garde poets emerging in our society.

Poets bring to society more than we can think of, and many times because their contribution is so subtle we really can't think of what they are. But without poets the world would be markedly more bland. Poetry has survived the farthest reaches of our known history, there has to be a reason. Poets are as important now as they have ever been.

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