poetry☕

 

The title was my attitude towards poetry until this week — not my cup of tea. However, upon further thought, I want to revise that statement to this: learning poetry in school is not my cup of tea. Specifically, I dislike the insistence of many English teachers to dig out meaning from every little word, even if it probably means nothing of note. 

The liberal use of symbolism in poetry, unlike normal literature, means that it's impossible to fully envision the image that the speaker is trying to illustrate — and that is perfectly okay. We don't need to hyperanalyze symbols that don't exist in an attempt to do so; instead, we can understand them in a way that relates to ourselves. That's what it means, I think, to truly "experience" poetry.

In Japanese school, there was a unit on poetry called shi wo ajiwayou, which translates to something along the lines of "let's taste/savor/appreciate poetry". I like this word choice because it implies that we should enjoy poetry in our own respective ways. When we taste a new dish, we don't know if it tastes the same way as it does to someone else, and everyone is accustomed to different tastes — but, we can savor it nonetheless, in the same way we can with poetry.

 

A piece of poetry from class that I liked was "In a Station of the Metro". In just two lines, the speaker creates this inexplicable feeling of sonder (at least for me), and it really shows how the symbolism in poetry that I once hated opens up unique ways to portray emotions that can't be described plainly.