Jeannette Rodriguez COMM 1306 September 11, 2011

Communication through Poetry Human communication is being able to express feelings, thoughts, and ideas effectively to others by using words, actions, and even gestures. Communication can occur in many forms, it may be a song, a letter, a conversation, a work of art, and even a poem. Whatever the method of communication used to express a message to others, they all have to go through a certain process in order to be effective (Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy, 2004). Poetry is no exception. Poetry is a beautiful and artistic form of art that has been used since the ancient times. In early times, poetry would be recited orally or sung and passed down through generations by word of mouth. With the development of writing, and the latest technology, you can read poetry from the internet, books, and other forms of publishing materials. The first step in this form of communication is the creation of poetry itself. The writer must first be inspired in order to be able to create a poem. A poem can be formed by putting ideas, feelings, and thoughts together to form a creative poem. Often times, the writer obtains such inspiration from real life events that occur around him or her. It is in this step that the writer can use his creativity to form this piece of poetry by using various literary techniques. There are many literary tools and techniques that can be used to give a poem its structure and deeper meaning. Such tools are similes, metaphors, imagery, satire, tone, and many more literary techniques that can be used. Depending on how the writer decides to use these tools largely affect how the message in his poem is presented to his audience.

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The second step is the publication part of the poem. It can be published in the internet through blogs, books, and magazines. There may be possible disruption of the message within a poem since there is a possible chance of mistakes occurring. Also, in occasions when a piece of poetry is translated to a different language, many times, the poem itself is largely affected since the message embedded within the poem may get lost in translation. The third step is reading the poem. Often times, the place in which the poem is read greatly affects how well the literary piece of art is taken into perspective. For example, reading a poem in a loud and overly crowded place can cause the reader to be unfocused when reading the poem. Hence, the reader is not fully able to read and appreciate the message embedded within a piece of poetry. A poem read on a nice relaxing day while drinking a cup of coffee is more than likely to be read more thoroughly, letting the message embedded within a poem have a greater meaning and impact on the reader. The fourth and final step in this form of communication is analyzing the poem. As mentioned earlier, a poem can be constructed by the use of many different literary tools. The uses of such tools require the reader to carefully analyze the poem in order to fully grasp the message that the writer is trying to portray. For example, a poem involving dissatisfaction with a form of government can be portrayed by using a dark tone and satire. Yet if the reader does not carefully digest the poem, they can easily miss the satire that is being used and instead think that the writer is worshipping the governmental system. In certain circumstances, the writer decides to use metaphors to try and provide a clearer picture for the reader, but there are times, when the reader does not understand the meaning behind such metaphor. It is in this stage where the most noise can occur which can easily disrupt the message in a poem. Yet it is also in this stage that the beauty of poetry is at its best. Any piece of art can be interpreted differently by each

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individual. A poem may seem beautiful and full of hope to one person, but to another person, the poem is sad and gloomy. Its interpretation largely depends on the individual since often times, poetry is read, and interpreted to fit ones own life. Communication has been known to have three types of models which are action, interaction, and transaction. Although there are three types of models, poetry mainly falls under the model of Action (Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy, 2004). An action model contains a source, receiver, message, channel, and noise (Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy, 2004). In order to send out a message from the writer to the reader through poetry, the steps that were mentioned earlier have to take place. It first has to be created, published, followed by being read, and then analyzed. The Action model has a source, which in the poetry line of communication would be the writer. A message has to be involved, which is what the writer embeds within the poem, and is then channeled through books, magazines, and other publication means. And lastly, the receiver reads it and analyzes the poetry and makes its own interpretations (Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy, 2004). Throughout this whole process, there is noise which can lead for the message within a poem to be misunderstood by the reader (Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy, 2004). Out of all the different forms of communication, I chose to use poetry. Ever since I was young, I often read poetry as a form of diversion. I enjoyed analyzing poems and finding their true meaning. In the end, whether or not I truly understood the true message behind a poem, I often found myself fitting it to my own daily life. As time progressed and my interest for poetry increased, I soon began to write poems. I wrote poems throughout my high school years and had them published in my schools magazine. Yet, as I entered college, my enthusiasm for poetry diminished. Because of the love I once had for poetry, I chose to use this for my form of communication model. Poetry is a beautiful and artistic form of communication that can express

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emotions, thoughts, and ideas by embedding a message within the poem and letting reader digest it and interpret it in their own way. Whether the interpretation that the reader obtains from the poem be accurate to the writers intention, or not, being able to make an analysis of the poem and applying it to fit our life is what truly gives poetry its beauty.

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Work Cited

Beebe, S.A., Beebe, S.J., & Ivy, D.K. (2007). Communication principles for a lifetime. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.