Poetry uses words to make sounds and create images which resonate with the reader. It touches the senses and emotions. It can be elemental. The best poetry is felt rather than understood intellectually and this can make it difficult for some to appreciate, whether because they prefer their literature to be practical or because of other reasons.

Whether poetry is rhyming or free verse, whether it follows set rules or not, when it is expertly done, it can offer insights into experiences, philosophy, new ideas, old ideas and beauty for beauty's sake. It can also express so much of the ugliness of human behavior.

Unfortunately too much poetry is obscure and it is necessary to know what triggered the poet to express their thoughts in this particular way to be able to make any sense of it. Here the emotional response is lost in the floundering of trying to understand. The antipathy that some experience about poetry is often triggered by such work. Poetry is not about writing a few broken lines and emotive words. It requires a surprising amount of discipline from the poet to create an enjoyable piece of work. Because humans come with such a variety of ways of thinking, what is good poetry to one will not appeal to others. There is a lot of personal taste and reaction to poetry which is probably why there is so much discussion about what it is.

Prose can be poetic in the way it is expressed offering a graceful use of words which satisfy the senses of the reader. Often poetry can offer the feelings which go to the heart of the idea, giving the essence. The mechanisms of poetry allow the poet to use fewer words to evoke the ideas that he or she wants to express.

Sometimes the discipline of the forms of poetry help to create the instant image. Haiku is exact and says succinctly a truth or emotion. Shakespeare's plays are written in a style which appears to be prose, but are a controlled form of words. As a result they have stood the test of time and are loved by many. The need to follow the pattern has helped to create an elegant (usually) way of saying everyday things with insight but even he had difficulties at times.

Often poetry is about universal experiences and truths. Something that each of us can recognize either because we have experienced it or because we have been with someone else when it has happened to them. It is about imagination.

Learn more about this author, Rosemary Redfern.
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