Why Does Poetry Matter Research Paper

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Why poetry matters is an important question to address, mostly because it is not getting asked as often as it should. A person can go their whole life without reading a poem that means something to them, and still seem to have a fairly fulfilling life. So what is the point of poetry? Does it matter? Should it matter for everyone? I don’t think poetry needs to matter to everyone in order to be worth something. Poetry is for the poet and her readers. It is about a love of connections and craft. So it is with this mindset—not of defense, but of immense affection—that we explore what poetry is and what it does.
In regards to purpose, poetry is the closest we can get to the unspoken, while still using words. This closeness to the unspoken is a powerful connection to our humanity. The unspoken includes the thoughts and feelings we experience underneath what we normally express. They’re the things we typically don’t even understand ourselves. Those things we see and experience individually, often unconsciously, have profound influence on how we view the world. And so, when we are able to articulate those thoughts and feelings, and bring them to consciousness, we are better able to articulate …show more content…

Instead, it is a space where one can be completely honest with oneself and with one’s readers. We spend enough time with manufactured pitch lines and photo-shopped posts. Our movies, TV shows, and even some novels are cheap, quick thrills—and we’re happy with it. But in the midst of all the entertainment, there seems to be a yearning for authenticity. Poetry can provide that authenticity. It can be a space to confess an insensitivity to death; to admit frustration with the cost of love; to be frank about sex, or broken by rape; to express anger with God or the church. Poetry can enter the messy and hard places and make them worth something. It requires no solution or resolution. It only requires that the moment be

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