Poetry and History (Krishna S.)
The first piece of writing
was a piece of poetry
It was the Epic of Gilgamesh
And it happened quite early
After the first poem
The art of poetry started to spread
The folk songs and epics that defined the genre
Remained locked in people’s heads
Fast forward to the ancient greeks
Poetry continued to expand
Classical Thinkers like Aristotle
Continued to shape the genre, firsthand
Move along towards the renaissance
When the arts were in a state of rebirth
Poetry was rediscovered
And many thinkers started to unravel its worth
They saw it as an opportunity
To express the thoughts in their head
They wrote about religion and politics
Ideas that previously remained unsaid
When colonials were discovering the world
Poets wrote about colonization
When chaos erupted in society
They would speculate at its causation
Moving past the renaissance
Political landscapes continued to alter
Bloody wars and revolutions
Led many authors to speak of slaughter
At the height of it all
Were the two world wars in the 20th
century
Poetry spoke of the battle and sights
Haunting images that remained in the public’s memory
After the bloody conflicts
Poetry started to redefine
The tone of poets started to lighten
And the genre started to shine
Come 21st century
Modern poetry stood apart from other forms of prose
It offered a chance for creativity
While its status and usefulness rose
The poetry we have in 2018
Is a product of history
It doesn’t resemble anything from the past
Because it attempts to debunk our current mystery
Poetry and history
Change together with time
The genre tells us so much about the past
That it’s certainly more than just finding the right
rhyme
Great poem! I love how you tell us about the history of poetry by writing a poem about it, very creative. I also enjoyed the rhyme scheme and the rhythm throughout the piece. I enjoyed the last stanza because it summarizes the main point, that poetry changes with history and that they reveal a lot about the historical context in which they were written.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting way to address the prompt. It was quite cool to see how poetry has changed with other events i history. I especially like how the last stanza conveys the idea that poetry is much more than finding rhymes, but the stanza itself was written, at least in part, because "time" and "rhyme" rhyme. This also helps your point since time and rhyme are seen as closely related words.
ReplyDeleteThis is a hard prompt and it's impressive that you were able to write a poem based on it. You did a nice job progressing through the history of poetry, and provided an interesting hook in stating that the first work of writing was a poem. The last stanza is my favorite, since you address both the nature of poetry in general, as well as your own poem, which incorporated a rhyme scheme throughout.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea to write this out as a poem about history, I think it's a very interesting interpretation of the prompt. I am definitely a big fan of the rhyming scheme, partly because some rhymes are slant rhymes and it adds a certain uncertainty to the poem that I love. Also I really like the line "Fast forward to the ancient Greeks" because of the words "forward" and "ancient" in the same sentence kind of throws you back and forth.
ReplyDeleteGreat poem, Krishna. I'm glad your solution points out how history was written in poetry in many places and throughout much of history.
ReplyDeleteI'm really impressed by the poem, it's solid formally. I think it's interesting how you chose to present the narrative of the history of poetry as a largely western one. I think it's telling that there isn't a mention of ancient Persian or Indian poetry, two super rich traditions that definitely influenced the western poetry canon. People don't really talk about the narrative that way though, so I see why you left those places out.
ReplyDeleteWow! This poem is great. It's impressive because of the rhymes that you've put in: the second and fourth line of every stanza. The last two stanzas conclude the poem very nicely.
ReplyDelete