Marella Therese A.

Tiongson 2007-18275

CL 150 Research Paper

The Significance of Poetry to Todays Students in UP Diliman I have always wanted to be a poet. As a child, I could imagine no other occupation because writing poetry was something I constantly did. I wrote poems about Math in the third grade and read it aloud to the class. I wrote poems for every occasion: on my parents birthday, on Christmas cards given to relatives, on the day my grandmother died (this became my first published poem, which appeared in my pastor uncles church magazine). While growing up as an awkward adolescent, poetry became an outlet through which I could vent all my angst and insecurities. Reading poetry was also important to me, for it articulated how I felt about myself and my surroundings. It inspired me to dream of writing meaningful poems whose messages would touch others and help them discover something new and beautiful about the world. In high school, poets that I idolized included Edgar Allan Poe, Sylvia Plath, e.e. cummings, and Pablo Neruda. Naturally, I wanted to go to study Creative Writing in college and hone my skills as a poet. Naturally, my parents thought I was insane. They asked questions like What will you do with your life as a poet? Does anyone even read poetry nowadays? They discouraged me from taking a course that would lead me to the path of poverty and told me to be more practical. What is the relevance of poetry to todays society, anyway? Their question lingers to this day. While I am taking a more practical course by being an education major, poetry is still one of my passions. I often wonder if my parents are right, that poetry has no more use in our modern age. So when we were tasked to research on any topic of our choice for CL 150, I immediately jumped at the chance to see what my schoolmates in UP Diliman thought of poetry. I chose to ask my peers because they were more steeped in these so-called modern times, and they are to be the future of society. I wanted to find out whether they still believe, like I do, that poetry has a very important purpose in society. This paper, then, will discuss the different uses and practical knowledge that poetry offers, based on research. Next, the results of a survey entitled The Significance of Poetry to Todays Students in UP Diliman will be shared and interpreted. Ultimately, this paper aims to share the insights of college students regarding poetry, and hopefully prove that poetry is still very significant to todays society. The first and most important question to answer is why poetry? Laurence Perrine gives a simple answer: because it gives pleasure. (3) Man, by nature, is attracted to things that are pleasurable. However, what sets poetry apart from other forms of entertainment is that it takes all life as its province. Its primary concern isnt beauty, nor philosophical truth, nor persuasion, but experience. (3) But before I get ahead of myself and discuss the purpose of poetry, I would like to present some ways to define it. Percy Shelley once said that Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. (QuoteGarden.com) His words may be taken to mean that poetry is more than just a reflection of our world it makes what we see beautiful because of the meaningful way it describes our surroundings. We become more aware and insightful of our experiences, and when we understand something that was distorted, it becomes beautiful in our eyes. Perrine, meanwhile, says that poetry is a kind of language that says more, and says it more intensely, than does ordinary language. (3) Poetry from this angle still speaks about poignant occurrences and ideas; though it may use ordinary language, it becomes elevated and distilled because the words are, according to Mark Polonsky, chosen and arranged to inspire the imagination. (Preface)

Now that we have established that poetry is more meaningful and crafted than ordinary language, what is its purpose? I believe that James Reeves perfectly captures the rationale behind poetry when he says: Poetry is the fruit of a creative activity call it an art, though in some ways it is less like art than [human] nature. For humanity is inconceivable without language, and poetry isnearly as old as language. Poetry arises as soon as language becomes organizedfor the purpose of expressing emotion; and as soon as poetry arises, a new emotion comes into being pleasure in language; this is the basis of a love for poetry. Poetry comes from the conscious organization of language in a form calculated to give pleasure or satisfaction in itself. It isthe supreme expression of the human spirit because of its commonplace ingredients: it is made up of language, which is the medium for expression mans most trivial and everyday thoughts. It is for this very reason that it is supreme. Just as the language of poetry is a refinementof the best in everyday language; so poetry itself is a refinementof the best in human experience. What poetry does to the mass of ordinary experience is to make permanent and memorable whatever in it is vital and significant. (87-88) The purpose of poetry is basically the expression of our experiences. Polonsky believes that it is the language of our imagination, and Our experience of life is largely determined by the ways in which we imagine our world. In addition to this, he explains that most of our experiences are mediated through words. To him, poetry uses words to open the doors of the mind so that life will be enhanced. He states that poetry directs us to our imaginations potentials and shows us a world filled with thoughts and sensations that we are unaccustomed to. (Preface) Polonsky also suggests another use of poetry: as an imagination exerciser. Because reading poetry is not a simple task, it entails effort and patience, even asking for imaginative willingness and trust from the reader. In our involvement with poetry, we are required to concentrate on our own inner thoughts, feelings, images and sensations as we read. He believes that readers have an important role in collaborating with the poet in visualizing a different perspective on some aspect of life. This, he says, is healthy for our minds. (Preface) But poetry is definitely not restricted to an individual level. Polonsky posits that much of the violence and psychological illness and unease in society are due to poetry deprivation. He argues that people become bigoted and prejudiced as a result of unimaginative thinking and narrow-mindedness. (1) Poetry expands the mind and develops the empathy and sensitivity of a person. In effect, he learns to look outside himself and become connected to a greater part of the world by participating in its experiences. To augment this, Perrine says that literature is written primarily to bring to us a sense and perception of life, to widen and sharpen our contacts with existence. He further explains this by stating that all humans have an inherent need to live more deeply and fully with greater awareness, to know the experiences of others, and to know better our own experiences. This is, for him, the literary use of language, because literature is not only an aid to living but a means to living. He says that language can only become literature when its main objective is to communicate significant experiences to others,

which are concentrated and organized. It does not just tell the reader about these experiences, but lets him participate in it. (4) This is exactly what poetry does. Perrine describes how poetry performs this function in two ways: broadening (making us acquainted with a range of experience with which we might have no contact); and deepening our experience (making us feel more poignantly and more understandingly the everyday experiences we all have). (6) As previously mentioned, poetry encompasses life itself. Because its primary concern is experience, everyone can relate to it. Perrine believes that, if pain is illustrated well in a poem, a reader may even find it enjoyable. He emphasizes that poetry brings life and pleasure, and this inspires us to live our lives intensely. Poetry is crafted in such a way that it organizes our experience so that we may have a better understanding of it, because, as Perrine says, To understand life is partly to be master of it. (9) Though this paper will focus on modern students views on poetry, it is important to note just how important poetry was in history. This way, a comparison may be drawn, which reinforces the notion that poetry no longer enjoys the same esteem among the public today as it used to. While this part of the paper may suggest reasons as to why the popularity of poetry has declined over the ages, this will not be its focus. Rather, it seeks to discover the opinions of students today regarding poetry, and by using this, hopefully prove that poetry is still relevant and thus inspire more people to make the study of poetry a habit that will improve their lives. Perrine says that Poetry is as universal a language and almost as ancient. He explains that most primitive people have used some form of poetry, and the most civilized people have cultivated it. He goes on to say that in every age and country, it has been written and eagerly read and listened to, by all kinds of people. (3) Furthermore, X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia mention how ancient civilizations perceived the hearing and making of a poem as a religious act. They cite Greek drama as an example, because for the playwright, actor, and spectator, it was a holy-day ceremony. The Greeks believed that a poet could only write a poem through supernatural assistance, which explains Homers invocations to the Muses in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Also, Plato banned poets from his Republic because, through divine inspiration, they were so effective in influencing the emotions of the public that they endangered their reason. Meanwhile, the Celts regarded poets as magicians and priests; whoever insulted one of them might expect to be cursed. (Preface) There are countless examples which attest to the prestige that poetry enjoyed centuries ago; one only needs to browse the treatises of philosophers, writers, and historians to see how much the people of their time esteemed poetry. In literature classes, I learned that poetry was, for the longest time, the highest form of art. Many writers and critics constructed aesthetic standards to deem which poems were sublime. For example, Aristotle and Horace, in discussing their poetics, gave practical advice to writers that are still being used to this day. Poetry used to be the literature of choice for people, read at almost every occasion. If you were a poet, you were held in the highest regard. Nowadays, if you are a poet, people think you have taken a vow of poverty. Youd be hard-pressed to find anyone who reads poetry for pleasure; most people do not have the patience for it. What happened? What could have turned everything around after a few centuries? Reeves provides a good insight to this question by saying, [People have no use for poetry.] It could easily be maintained that this is because poetry is not felt to be a vital part of the adult life of a modern community. Poetry belongs to a magical view of the world, and the modern world is not regarded as magical. I wholeheartedly agree. These days, there is barely an air of mystery that remains in our world.

Because of the wonders of technology and the advancements of science, there is a general feeling that people already know everything there is to know about the world or at least, are getting there. In such an information-driven age, where everything can be discovered in an instant, poetry has lost its importance precisely because it requires people to think. It has no place in a world that is honestly becoming too materialistic and fast-paced, where things are taken for granted. Polonsky laments this situation in his poetry classes. He is saddened when students come to his classes convinced that they dont understand poetry, that its necessarily obtuse, abstract, and removed from ordinary life, and that only extremely intellectual people can interpret it. Thats a tragically mistaken perception. Patience, he says, is the only way that poetry can become accessible and relevant to everyone. (Preface) In an attempt to make students to make students appreciate why they are studying poetry, Kennedy and Gioia point out that success in a profession is not mainly from acquiring certain skills and information. They believe that *some+ people fail not because they dont understand their jobs, but because they dont understand the peoplethey work with. They attribute this to the inability to imagine another persons point-of-view. They say that literature provides people with the opportunity to leap outside the walls of yourself [and] see through another persons eyes. As a result, students can become more sensitive to their own language, and that of others. This all goes back to the purpose of poetry: to communicate meaningful experiences. How many students are actually aware of these invaluable insights? Based on all of the above research and insights on poetry, I designed a survey which aims to give some idea of the opinion of some UP students regarding poetry and its importance to them. I am of the belief that people only take something seriously if they see its value; before I can inspire more people to see what they can gain from poetry, I have to know what they actually think about it. I didnt know what to expect when I conducted the survey. While I knew that UP students are really known for thinking out of the box and seeing more relevance in what they study, I couldnt be sure if the same could be said of their attitude towards poetry. In asking 60 random people to respond to an online survey, I made sure that most of them were from different colleges and of different year levels, just so biases would be avoided. I refrained from asking them to provide their courses in the survey, because what I wanted was just an idea of what some UP students in general thought about poetry. I will be discussing the results of questions next, which will be displayed in the table below and then interpreted accordingly.

Question 1. If I could choose to read a poem over other forms of literature, I would. 2. I think that I dont understand most poems because they are too abstract. Only intellectual or artsy people

Strongly Agree 16.7% (10)

Agree 20.0% (12)

Undecided 23.3% (14)

Disagree 38.3% (23)

Strongly Disagree 1.7% (1)

3.3% (2)

33.3% (20)

6.7% (4)

41.7% (25)

15.0% (9)

can get them. 3. I dont have the patience to read and analyze a poem. 4. The study of poetry is a waste of time. 5. Poetry is removed from ordinary life. 6. Poetry belongs to a magical view of the world. 7. Poetry offers practical knowledge to me, in that it helps me become more sensitive to language, both my own and that of others. 8. Reading poetry helps me become more aware of my own experiences, and those of others. 9. Reading a good poem is a pleasurable experience for me 10. Poetry acquaints me with a wide range of experience, with which I otherwise might have no contact. 11. Poetry helps deepen my experience by making me feel more poignantly my everyday experiences. 12. Reading poetry is a multidimensional experience for me. It affects my senses, intellect, emotions, and imagination.

1.7% (1)

21.7% (13)

11.7% (7)

53.3% (32)

11.7% (7)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

5.0% (3)

58.3% (35)

36.7% (22)

1.7% (1)

8.3% (5)

18.3% (11)

50.0% (30)

21.7% (13)

1.7% (1)

40.7% (24)

10.2% (6)

40.7% (24)

6.8% (4)

13.6% (8)

55.9% (33)

16.9% (10)

13.6% (8)

0.0% (0)

19.0% (11)

65.5% (38)

10.3% (6)

5.2% (3)

0.0% (0)

35.0% (21)

43.3% (26)

13.3% (8)

8.3% (5)

0.0% (0)

16.7% (10)

65.0% (39)

6.7% (4)

11.7% (7)

0.0% (0)

13.6% (8)

62.7% (37)

13.6% (8)

8.5% (5)

1.7% (1)

26.7% (16)

55.0% (33)

13.3% (8)

5.0% (3)

0.0% (0)

13. Reading about painful experiences in poetry is enjoyable for me, because I experience them vicariously. 14. Reading a poem has helped me change the way I look at something. 15. I learn so much about life by reading a poem. 16. I feel inspired whenever I read a good poem. 17. Poetry inspires me to live my life intensely. 18. I always expect to learn a lesson after I read a poem. 19. I always expect a poem to be beautiful. 20. Much of the violence and psychological illness and unease in society are due to poetry deprivation. 21. Modern society has outgrown poetry and does not see much relevance for it. 22. I believe society today still needs poetry.

10.0% (6)

48.3% (29)

18.3% (11)

20.0% (12)

3.3% (2)

25.0% (15)

56.7% (34)

13.3% (8)

5.0% (3)

0.0% (0)

8.3% (5)

66.7% (40)

10.0% (6)

15.0% (9)

0.0% (0)

36.7% (22)

51.7% (31)

8.3% (5)

3.3% (2)

0.0% (0)

6.7% (4)

50.0% (30)

21.7% (13)

21.7% (13)

0.0% (0)

6.7% (4)

38.3% (23)

21.7% (13)

33.3% (20)

0.0% (0)

13.8% (8)

34.5% (20)

13.8% (8)

37.9% (22)

0.0% (0)

3.3% (2)

11.7% (7)

30.0% (18)

35.0% (21)

20.0% (12)

13.3% (8)

53.3% (32)

8.3% (5)

21.7% (13)

3.3% (2)

33.3% (20)

61.7% (37)

5.0% (3)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

1.

When do you usually read poetry? Please check all that apply. Whenever I feel like it 76.8% When I'm feeling happy or nostalgic 19.6% When I'm feeling sad or emotional 28.6% Only when it's required reading of me (i.e., in class) 67.9% Whenever my favorite poet comes out with a new work 14.3% Never 0%

Other (please specify) 14.3% 1. When someone I personally know recommends/has read/written it 2. When I happen upon an interesting-looking poetry book 3. When I happen to see one somewhere ex. in the papers, on the train 4. When I come across a poem 2. What are your reasons for reading poetry? Please check all that apply. It articulates what I want to say or how I feel. 50% It helps me understand my experiences better. 39.3% It develops my empathy for others. 33.9% It gives me pleasure and/or inspiration. 71.4% I learn something new or look at something differently. 51.8% It exercises my imagination. 60.7% I honestly don't care much for poetry or see why I should read it 8.9% Other (please specify) 8.9% 1. For songwriting inspiration 2. People recommend it 3. I don't really read but I can appreciate very much due to the above 4. Class requirement 5. Change of reading material 3. Do you have a favorite poem? Yes 33.9% No 66.1% 4. Do you have a favorite poet? Yes 19.6% No80.4% Most popular: Silverstein, Neruda, Shakespeare

Needless to say, the results of this survey both surprised and pleased me. I had expected my peers to share in the belief of my parents, that poetry for them was irrelevant. Admittedly, my assumption was founded on the fact that I barely knew anyone who liked to read poetry if they had the choice. I was correct; most people wouldnt readily choose to read a poem but that didnt mean that they thought poetry was irrelevant. In fact, a good majority believe they can understand poems and most of them have the patience to analyze poems! I was happy to see that they dont think that poetry is a waste of time. They see its connection to everyday, ordinary life but they also acknowledge it as a magical way of looking at the world. When I suggested some of the purposes of poetry as discussed early, the respondents agrees that it helps them be more sensitive to others and be more aware of their experiences. Reading a poem is a pleasurable and multidimensional experience for most of them. More importantly, it has helped them change their perspective on something. I am glad to see that poetry still works its magic on them, for they learn about life through reading poems and feel inspired. The most important thing that this survey revealed to me was this: while half agrees that modern society thinks poetry is irrelevant, more

than 90% of them believe that society still needs poetry today. Never in my life have I been so glad to be proven wrong! In conclusion, this survey has proved that there is still hope for poetry today. While many people might think that poetry has no real use to our modern society, the results of my study implies that some of my generation, the future of our society, still find poetry relevant. They are still inspired by it and can appreciate the practical knowledge that studying poetry can give them. They know that poetry helps them to be more sensitive to each other, value their experiences, and still cling onto some magic and mystery in this world. I am glad that it seems that, among those people I surveyed, many respondents are still interested in exercising their imagination, thinking, and using poetry as a means to connect to the rest of the world. Therefore, the challenge to poets, writers, English teachers, and anyone who appreciates poetry is simple: in order to keep poetry relevant, we have to make it significant in the way that we live. We have to apply the knowledge that we gain from these precious gems of human experience and ensure that poetry, like the priceless lessons we learn from it, will never die simply because the need to communicate and participate in meaningful experiences will never be outdated. I would therefore like to end this paper with meaningful words from Joseph Roux: Science is for those who learn; poetry, for those who know. (QuoteGarden.com)

Works Cited Kennedy, X.J. & Gioia, Dana. An Introduction to Poetry. 8th ed. NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1998. Print. Perrine, Laurence. Sound and sense: an introduction to poetry. 5th ed. NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1997. Print. Poetry Quotes, Sayings about Poems, Quotations about Poets. QuoteGarden.com. Quote Garden. Sept. 09, 2010. Oct. 8, 2010. Polonsky, Mark. The poetry readers toolkit: a guide to reading and understanding poetry. Chicago: NTC Publishing Group, 1998. Print. Reeves, James. Teaching poetry: poetry in class five to fifteen. London: Heinemann, 1958. Print.