The Lost Art of Poetry

Throughout history poetry has had a meaningful role in how we interact with each other. Thanks to poems, we have been able to enhance our chances of courting the opposite sex, congratulate someone special on an accomplishment or simply explore the beauty of playing with the magical power of words. Poetry itself is so powerful, that we can reach a person’s heart in a number of special ways.

In the past, poems helped to engage people with their evocative qualities. It was common for men to present women with beautiful poems as a meaningful gesture. A literary art form; poetry has been used to tell some of history’s most enchanting and exciting stories. Unfortunately, today many of the influential qualities that poetry has to offer the world have been trumped by more tangible gifts like computers or the Internet.

Over the years, modern society seemed to have used poetry less and less for special moments or occasions. We see fewer children learning about the great poets of the past in school. Poetry book sales have decreased dramatically in the last two decades, and sadly; the world produces less and less new poets with each passing day. I dare not say such form of writing will one day be extinct, but we sure look as though we are going down that dreadful path.

Although the use of poetry in our daily lives is waning, we must not disregard the great contributions that this art has given the world. So many people find answers to their personal struggles through poetry; either by reading or writing poems. In many ways, poetry can be an outlet for personal despair. Poetry has the power to spread love, heal and entertain. Others find inspiration in poetry, as it is easy to become mesmerized with works by some of the great poets such as T.S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, William Shakespeare and many others. The poetic works of art given to us by these great writers has transcended generations and will live on forever.

Poetry exists because the human race, by nature, has emotions such as love, romance, passion, fear, misery, anger, resentment, remorse, excitement, lust, compassion, pain and hardship. The digital age has, in many ways, played a significant role in why there is less interest in poetry among the newer generations. Many people born after 1990 prefer to spend hours playing video games, watching television or surfing the internet instead of grasping onto the power and impact of a quality book or a beautiful poem. We must encourage the development of technology, but we must also support the tradition of reading and writing poetry. Whether it is on a paperback or a Kindle, we cannot permit poetry to disappear. We need to become enchanted again with poetry’s unique ability to evoke and share emotions with the world.

Source by Alexa Dagostino