I have always loved music ever since I was little, and I pretty much like any type or form of it. But until this class, I never realized that many songs may have been stemmed from poems, or that many songs seem sound like they could be poems. This class has really opened my eyes to the different forms of poetry, and I think that music is one of the strongest ones. Before learning about poetry, I had no idea that it was so widespread and diverse. I always thought that poems were boring and they never seemed to get my attention. But taking this class has taught me that poetry isn’t boring in any way and that anyone can learn to love it.
I’ve recommended this class to a few of my friends, and their responses were negative, to say the least. Many of them said that they don’t write poetry and that poetry is boring, which is how I felt before taking the class. And even though I explained this to them, they were still unsure that taking the class would be worth it. Why are people so negative towards the idea of poetry? I think it’s because they don’t really know how diverse it is and that it has numerous forms, like songs. Also, many people only know what they learned in grade school, which is just a small piece of what poetry actually is. I think that schools should start teaching poetry in a more relaxed and fun way, as this class did, because it is an important tool for anyone to learn. And if schools taught poetry this way, children would be more likely to be willing to learn about it.
This class has opened my eyes to how wonderful poetry actually is, and I hope that I can spread this joy to others. When I become an elementary school teacher, I plan on fitting poetry into their lessons and teaching it in a more relaxed fashion so that children will learn to love it. I think it’s important to become educated about poetry, and I’m glad that I decided to take this class so that I can help to teach others about it.
I've noticed this with myself too. Now when I'm in the car listening to music, I tend to focus a lot more on the lyrics. It made me think about how talented many song-writers really are. I've even noticed how most songs use rhyme and other elements of the poetry language to add to the flow of the song. It also made me think about how some of my own work would sound if sung or put with music. It could be an interesting exercise.
ReplyDeleteIt’s quite interesting that you decided to write a post on how poetry has some influence on music. For, my oral presentation the pre 1950 poet I chose was James Weldon Johnson. He wrote the song “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” as a poem which quickly became a way for African Americans to demonstrate their patriotism and hope for the future. Who would ever think a poem would turn into the African American national anthem? Poetry can be a very powerful song.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I always think about the poems that we are reading and how I would love for them to be songs! I really connect with music also and now that I have at least a little bit of experience writing poetry I feel really inspired to write a song!
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