POEMS NEW AND SELECTED By: James Laughlin
Poetry competes with other simpler, easier to consume, commercial forms of expression that don’t involve the complexity of rhyme, rhythm, metaphor, meter, etc. The biggest reason poetry is counted to be underrated, is because it’s considered nerdy. Boring, personal, and just hard. Poetry is hard… but it’s a sense of emotion. The feeling it brings just to look at it. But to read it and write it. Writing poetry helps to reveal yourself. There are so many different forms of poetry. There are so many ways that poetry can help you exceed. In a quote in the introduction to James Laughlin’s book of poetry called, “POEMS NEW AND SELECTED”, Charles Tomlinson wrote, “Laughlin reveals himself in his poems as a master of concision, of the well-placed word that penetrates the human heart.” It’s like a window into his soul. So many poems that he has written, I have connected to their significance and they have reflected my own life. To me, poetry is another language. The short lines, the long lines, the way the entirety of the poem can be a sentence. The way you can say so much in two lines, or can’t say enough in twelve lines.
Most students find it hard to analyze and understand the meaning behind poems, which makes it hard because it takes a lot of time and effort. Some people are even intimidated by poetry. To write a deep and meaningful poem, you often have to use symbolism and figurative language, which makes it challenging to target the underlying message. All words in poetry are complicated. Mainly because they are situated into a rhythm or meter the poet has chosen to apply to it. It’s a skill to read, write, and even understand poetry. Almost anyone can listen to poetry though. That’s because it’s meant to be heard. In the English and American historical tradition, hearing the words physically helps you hear all the elements interpreted into the poem.
