Monday, February 24th, 2014
Poetry, an often shunned form of art
Marianne Moore strings upon a truth in her poem "Poetry". She addresses the negative response people tend to have towards poetry. Her main point? People tend to dislike things they do not understand in general, and poetry may fall into that category. Moore also draws a line between "curiosity" and "appreciation". People may be desire to know more about poetry, and this interest hints at their attraction to poetry. This, however, does not necessarily mean that they like poetry. Appreciation comes with comprehension, therefore people cannot decide whether they like something or not until they understand it completely.
When I think about it, this is very true. I have often seen people change their mind about their liking for something once they understand it. As an example, students might hate the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" when they read it as a sixth grader, yet they might love it when reading it again as an undergraduate. It is not "accurate" to decide one's opinion on something when one does not understand the meaning completely, because this misunderstanding builds a frustration that breeds prejudice against the subject in question. As Moore puts it, one must first inspect the "imaginary gardens with real toads in them", grasp the meaning and find the realities, the truth, they reflect and seek to transmit, before having the qualities and the right to decide whether they like it or not.
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