Journal Entry 41: Poetry

How are poems different from other forms of writing? Do poems have any similarities to other kinds of writing? Can a poem do the same thing as other forms of expression, such as a story or song? How can a poem do things that other forms of expression can’t? Are there some things that a poem can’t do that can be done in other forms of writing? Do you see poems or poetic language in the world today? Where? What are they used for?

Poems usually have a rhythm to it, and most of them are quite hard to understand. Poems are very artistic and because of their poetic elements, they're often times easier to remember. Poems and other kinds of writing can all be any length they want and they all have different genres. All writings can express thoughts and most are quite enjoyable. Poems can express the author's thoughts and can tell stories too. But, poetry is often harder to understand, while stories are more specific. Stories are also mostly fiction, but poems can be either fiction or non fiction. In other forms of writing, thing's are mostly written in paragraph forms, but poems are usually lines of words broken down into shorter sentences, sometimes not even a full sentence. People can surely still see poems or poetic language in the world today. We can still see it in some songs and a lot of advertisements too. Songs usually rhyme and they most definitely have a rhythm to them (most of the time). Advertisements also use poetic language, because poetry is a lot easier to remember since it has a particular rhythm to it and are usually quite short. Poetry can sometimes be jokes or even sound like things Picasso drew. People can have different views of the same poem and they might all be right! So, I personally think that reading poems are just like trying to understand a drawing. It's all about guessing what the author meant and what the piece of art means to you.