To feel Poetry has died a death in modern society?

[Marmitemother]

Out of curiosity I searched MN expecting to find a topic page on poetry and literature....have I missed it somewhere?

Semi retired, children flown the nest, hubbie and I always busy with projects yet still find time to read poetry most days.

I'm wondering if others, particularly younger folk (we're in our 60's) didn't learn to appreciate poetry at school or just don't have time or the inclination to read, share and discuss compared to all else available these days (TV, phones, cinema, social media etc)

I read The Journey by Mary Oliver this morning and thought about how it spoke to many posting on the Relationship page.

“One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.”

Sorry forgot to do the kinky thing

Bloody hell! Linky!!!! Edit button please!!

@stilldumdedumming - thanks - I've cut, pasted and edited the link - you can always look for a ? in any link and delete it and everything after it and it will work fine. I hadn't seen that collection.

www.waterstones.com/book/poetry-unbound/padraig-o-tuama//9781838856328

Well that’s fine, everyone likes different things, I think the subjectiveness of poetry is what makes it wonderful, there’s much poetry mentioned here that I don’t connect to at all. I guess like some philosophy. What one person raves about I find little of interest.

Hope your studies are going well.

Most people ignore poetry because most poetry ignores people.

Did anyone listen to the poet on R6 during Covid?

Definitely for the masses, not elite, but very moving

Can’t remember the guy’s name though

I agree @OMG12 - poetry is as varied as people are, so everyone will like different poetry. I don't like a lot of poetry that other people seem to find heartwarming, and I find some poetry dull that other people might rave about. I know a couple of poets that I love though, and I'm open to finding others. I think that poetry can get to the heart of the matter more quickly than novels etc.

I love to write poetry about many subjects of interest and also to raise awareness and folks of all adult ages seem to really like them and I find through personal experience it's a great way to get a message across. I love to read poetry on SM as I find it can be really moving. Yes rap is a form of poetry I agree and would love to see poetry make a comeback.

I'm a local poet-in-residence and very much influenced by some modern spoken word stuff; I agree rap is poetry and I think Lin Manuel Miranda is a genius.
But I also love some of the old romantics, I studied Donne at college and fell in love. I love Rosetti and Eliot - he opened my eyes to poetry at an early age with Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats which I just devoured again and again. But as a child I also loved poets like Blake because even though I didn't understand all the words I was captivated by the rhythm and cadence. I'm the same now - I like hearing poetry read aloud because I want to head the poet's take on it, the way they envisage it.

I don't think poetry is dying out but it's ever evolving. And tastes just vary so wildly it's often impossible to say what good poetry actually is. For me, it's words that move, that inspire, that fire, that give a window on something new, that take me somewhere else. I don't like Hallmark guff but I like a good limerick as much as the next woman. I like funny Haikus and I like tragic war poems and I like Shakespeare's sonnets.

I do share my poetry on social media and get a good response but I'm aware that for every encouraging voice there's someone thinking 'ugh'. And that's okay, because it's subjective and has to be so.

Spoken word nights are massive, lots of people write their own poetry and poetry journals/comps still exist. I think it's bigger than in my youth. Depends on where you are looking. Short stories have also had a resurgence.

Thank you @stilldumdedumming 😊

@IWannaBeInTheRoomWhereItHappens

"I don't think poetry is dying out but it's ever evolving. And tastes just vary so wildly it's often impossible to say what good poetry actually is. For me, it's words that move, that inspire, that fire, that give a window on something new, that take me somewhere else."

My thoughts on poetry in a nutshell! Thank you

@IWannaBeInTheRoomWhereItHappens I do think Lin Manuel is a musical genius and a brilliant story writer. I’m not sure I’d consider him a brilliant poet though, almost all the best lines from Hamilton are (quite openly) taken from other rappers.

*story teller, not writer 🙄