Poetry. Upon hearing this word, many will recollect the ole pattern of “roses are red / violets are blue” which remains a constant in most circumstances. Why is it so popular? I have no idea and I am not going to talk about that.
Poetry is much more elaborate than silly rhythmic patterns spoken in a sing-song manner with rhyming throughout its structure. It is a peculiar type of writing as it has conventions which authors are expected to adhere to, yet they can be abandoned so long as there is evident purpose or reason behind it, even if it is as simple as “I got tired of making things rhyme.” A good example would be how Shakespeare, with his well-known sonnets, did not always follow the supposed rules placed before him.
Sonnets are intended to be in iambic pentameter. Most of what this means is unimportant, what is of note is the word “pentameter” which refers to five metrical feet in poetry (sorry, not going to go into detail this time around, this is just the spark notes version). In a handful of sonnets, Shakespeare did not write in iambic pentameter, instead he wrote in iambic hexameter, or six metrical feet. While this technically does not follow the guidelines for a proper sonnet, it is instead considered a variation.
It is just as vital to look at poetry as it is to listen to it. Being an art form in nature, the visual aspect is as fundamental as the words the author selected to create the message desired. What rules or conventions are there for the design and structure of a poem should you decide this path to walk on? Who cares? The purpose of this kind of writing is to embrace a unique freedom of creating a message in the most beautiful, shocking, insightful, so on and so forth way the author sees fit.
What is also incredible is when certain poetry styles are adapted to and from other cultures. For example, the haiku. The haiku is a Japanese poem following the pattern of three (unrhymed) lines with five, seven, and five syllables. This is fascinating to observe when executed in non-Japanese languages as the original purpose of the haiku was to provide a brief overview of the theme of a much larger poem which followed. A summary, really. Add in the knowledge that Japanese is a tonal and not a pitch language which splits words up according to syllables, and the nature of the haiku becomes increasingly more impressive. One word could likely comprise the first line of the haiku, followed by a short phrase and then by another word or even shorter phrase for the final line. Once more I remind you, the haiku is intended to be a synopsis, not necessarily a standalone work in itself.
The goal here is not to convince people to read more poetry or become “more cultured”, simply to increase the awareness of how much effort it may take to do. If in school you were told to summarize a forty page book in ten words or less and do it well, how would you react? Or if an art instructor said to create a picture using only words arranged in a clever way, could it be done? And, if neither was easy enough, so long as you told this teacher why you did not comply entirely with the instructions given, you would receive full credit? This is by no means the best analogy, though it may be relatable. Recognize the effort which goes into something, no matter how simple it may appear.
