Blue First Addition

So what is poetry?
Poetry means different
things to different people
and over the centuries
people have tried to
define poetry but there is
as many definitions of
poetry as there are
people. Wordsworth
defined poetry as "the
spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings;" Emily
Dickinson said, "If I read a
book and it makes my
body so cold no fire ever
can warm me, I know that
is poetry;" and Dylan
Thomas defined poetry
this way: "Poetry is what
makes me laugh or cry or
yawn, what makes my
toenails twinkle, what
makes me want to do this
or that or nothing.”
So there you have it from
the horses’, (poets’)
mouths …poetry can be
many different things to
many different people.
Ask a number of people
who their favourite poet is
and you will have answers
from Wordsworth to
Shakespeare to TS Elliot
to Japanese poets like
Matshuo Basho to South
African poet, Mafika
Gwala. Shall I continue?
For to do so would take
forever as I have not even
mentioned postmodernism,
experimentalists,
slam...
AND SO …WHAT IS
POETRY?
Perhaps the characteristic
most central to the definition
of poetry is its unwillingness
to be defined,
labelled, or nailed down.
Poetry is to every person
what speaks to him/her at
that moment.
Poetry is the expression
of emotion through language
and; it's a canvas
splattered with all the
colours of the rainbow
where the poet uses
words instead of paint,
and the canvas is you.
You take from the words
and colour your canvas
through your interpretation.
Poetry is emotional and
evocative. It typically
evokes in the reader an
intense emotion: joy,
sorrow, anger, catharsis,
love... Alternatively, poetry
has the ability to surprise
the reader with an Ah Ha!
Experience -- revelation,
insight, further understanding
of elemental
truth and beauty.
Don't constrict poetry with
definitions. Poetry is not a
broken bird or a helpless
infant. Poetry is stronger
than you think. Poetry is
imagination and will break
those chains faster than
you can say, "Beauty is in
the eye of the beholder."
To borrow a phrase,
poetry is a riddle wrapped
in an enigma swathed in a
cardigan sweater... or
something like that.
And that, I think, is the
purpose of poetry.
Read some poetry written
by our own Yorkies and let
the words speak to you.
PAINTING IS POETRY THAT IS
SEEN RATHER THAN FELT AND
POETRY IS PAINTING THAT IS
FELT RATHER THAN SEEN
Leonardo Da Vinci