Howdy everybody! Today I wanted to talk about poetry. I have been into creative writing for a long time, and, though I always liked reading fiction more, I preferred to write poetry. It always felt freeing to me, allowing me to experiment in form and meter much more than adhering to “proper” grammar present in prose. I have written poetry in my free time, even extending to some songs (though those were mostly writing lyrics and melodies, not so much the rest of the instrumentation). To me, writing poetry is more effective than journaling because it can bypass the perfectionist parts of my brain to allow me to use more of an outline form for my thoughts, which feels more raw.
There is a massive difference in writing versus analyzing poetry. Because of the way I write poetry, I view analyzing poetry as almost a psychoanalysis of the poet. The choice of the form or the diction shows how structured the poet’s brain was at the moment of writing. The rhyme scheme shows whimsy but also an adherence to rules, yet a lack of one can show a more unrestricted mindset while being a little more serious. I am of the opinion that the study of a thing informs and therefore aids in the performance of a thing, so I encourage the study of poetry for the means of bettering your writing. It’s the difference between a point guard who shoots threes as much as he wants to a point guard who can run a play to move the ball around; the first one is good at basketball and scores some points, but the second is great because he sees more opportunities for points. Analyzing poetry forces you to learn more about poetry to decipher its meanings, but that means that the knowledge is now rattling around in your head for you to utilize when writing it later on.
Ultimately, this exercise called “analysis” is one in exposure. Exposure to great poets through analysis allows for the exercise of the portions of the mind that create poetry. It is the same reason athletes watch game tape, actors watch other performers (or interact with a subject they might portray), or prospective teachers spend time observing and student teaching: practice makes perfect. Analysis is just a form of education, letting the analyst learn the intricacies of a thing through critical thinking. This is true for poetry as it is for teaching as it is for anything that requires skill of any kind.
