A Question for Poets?

Why do you think people write poetry? Why do you think people go to the trouble of working in the tight restraints of the sonnet template or in couplets when they could just write prose? I once wrote a paper on this very topic, and I am just interested to see why teenagers especially seem to pour their hearts out in verse. How about if some of you kids tell me why you feel the need for poetry rather than short stories? Just wondering ... Pax - C.

A Question for Poets?
It's all in the emotion. We're more prone to bursts of energy and feelings, and poetry is the perfect outlet for that, allowing us to vent the way we want to - namely, in highly concentrated spurts. Prose is for the practiced, the lucid, and teenagers generally don't do lucid in the sense of long, flowing sentences. We're too impatient for that. We'd rather have it all out, just - like - that (snaps fingers!).





I find it odd, though, that you specifically mention sonnets and couplets. It's my impression that we (teenagers) tend towards free verse. That's been my experience, anyhow.
Reply:there is something enchanting about being able to compress what seems insurmountable into a few verses. Although I am not in the least talented, I find it relaxing to think of rhymes/ alliterations/ metaphors/ poetic devices in general to fit my purpose, instead of just worrying over my problems. With short stories, in order to illistrate a thought, you have to write so much and I sometimes just need to get it out. Plus poetry is more fun to perform, even if it's just to my sleeping dog.
Reply:Here's an answer from an old kid---poetry doesn't fool around. It cuts to the chase using words as the essence of thoughts and emotions.


Teens particularly enjoy writing poetry because being a teen is being all wrapped up in emotions and not having the words big enough or expressive enough to tell how they're feeling in prose. Poetry allows those emotions out like songs, or cries, or shouts directly from the heart to the reader or listener. The discipline of structured verse forms allows the poet to speak clearly, to define the thought, refine the emotion. Blank verse allows the same clarity, but also allows the thoughts to flow with more freedom.
Reply:Teenagers are more familiar with the poetic mode of expression. They hear it constantly in their music which is very important to them--I think that's why teenage poetry usually has a sing-song rhythm to it. It's recreational rather than something forced upon them. It provides a means with which to express their frustrations, anger and "oppression", and with the current music style, it's comprehension is virtually impossible for adults, giving it the aura of a secret communication. Remember Bob Dylan?
Reply:Wordplay is a huge factor. The nature of poetry encourages wordplay. Writing poetry is often more intuitive for most people, although in my experience people grossly overestimate their ability to write poetry even more than their ability to write prose. Some of these people attempt to use the freedoms poetry affords to hide their inabilities, but to the trained eye such deficiencies come blaring through.
Reply:I have always wanted to write short stories but don't have the patience.
Reply:well i used to write a lot of poetry because it made me think in a different way. it showed me how to work within restraints but i can still move around, i enjoyed the short lived flow of writing because then it isn't so much to share with friends and classmates even though there is no poetry line limit


now i write nothing but short stories and now i find it hard to write poetry wierd how that works lol
Reply:For me, poetry is easier. It doesn't require full sentences or even full thoughts. When writing a story, you must have a goal or some sort of outcome in mind. IT's entirely more difficult. Poetry can express more because it has so many layers packed into such short phrases. Don't get me wrong, stories are great and have crazy layers of meaning, but poetry does it in a shorter, more compact way, which makes it more powerful to me.
Reply:a poetry attracts a person to read it... mebe cz' it looks short.. or mebe cz' it is short. so that some ppl whop dont like readign will also read it.. or atleast js go thru it.. n wn u hv any strong emotions/feelings, poetry seems to flow beautifully.. cz' the feeling' frm the heart.

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