Journal Entry #10: "What Is Poetry? (Your Turn)"

Journal #10: "What Is Poetry? (Your Turn)"

Reflect upon your past experience with poetry, as well as your idea of what poetry is. How useful, in your opinion, is the study of poetry? How open minded are you about our study of poetry?

In the past, I haven’t been a fan of poetry. I remember hating it in elementary school, and dreading writing any. Regardless, I still managed to win the English Proficiency Award at my grade 8 graduation. Actually, my teacher told me that it was the quality of the poetry project I had done a few weeks earlier that had won it for me. That may have been a turning point for me, because even though I didn’t like it, I was apparently good at it, even if it was just simple limericks and haikus back then. Since I’ve entered high school though, I’ve become much fonder of it, likely because I’ve become more interested in writing, and though I don’t write any poetry, I’m not biassed towards it.

I view poetry as a few things. It could be a literary expression of one’s feelings, or simply something discussing a topic or telling a story in a way that can be regarded as aesthetically appealing. It could be almost anything, it depends on the writer’s opinion of whether or not it’s poetry. It is what you make it.

The study of poetry is important depending on what you want to do in life. Obviously some people will never need to study poetry, or find it necessary to do so. Others, however, will find it very useful to study poetry. In my opinion, I think it is useful, considering it has been a part of our society for thousands of years. I feel we should at least study the basic forms of poetry and most well known poems.

As for studying poetry myself, I’m very open minded towards it. I’d love to improve my poetry writing skills. I think that improving my poetry writing skills will also improve my general writing skills, and will help make me a better writer. When I write a poem, I’m usually able to write a few lines easily, but I find that I have a harder time creating longer poems. That’s something I hope I am able to change over the course of this unit. Regardless, I’m going to put my best effort into all the poetry I submit.