The Amazing Existence of Poetry (CC)

       Sadly, we have come to the final days of the poetry unit in AP Lit. I didn't enjoy everything we did in the unit, nor did I enjoy every single poem we analyzed, but overall, I really liked learning more about poetry. Poetry has always been one of those things that just stuck with me. I have always loved constructing poetic writing and forming stanzas with very particular rhythms and rhyme schemes. I also see poetry in the everyday music of my life. Choral pieces that are composed merely of a poem someone, somewhere, wrote and has been set to music, song lyrics that are way too easy to memorize because they rhyme and are written exactly like a poem, etc. Poetry is kind of everywhere. Speeches that have a very musical flow to them and cause them to be portrayed effectively, certain plays and especially musicals (Anyone heard of Seussical the Musical?), songs being composed with words, and so much more. It is an art of life that would be difficult to live without. I mean, if we lost poetry, the world would - by no means - suddenly end, but it would be a darker, drearier place. 

        Poetry brings out that creative side of a lot of people, allowing them to express themselves through a complex (or simple) structure of words. If we had no poetry, a lot of people would suffer. Prose writing would vanish, tearing out the hearts of writers everywhere, as it is such a beloved form of writing to so many people. Music would lose a lot of choral pieces. A lot. Speeches with a very poetic form - like "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King Jr. - would lose much of their effectiveness due to their loss of flowing rhythm and structure. Like I said before, a world without poetry would not be nearly as exciting and well-off. 

        Poetry adds so much to the world. It gives us a piece of life that helps us transform into more creative thinkers and build up our character, making us more well-rounded people overall. Of course, some people hate poetry or at least certain elements of poetry, and that's fine. It isn't something everyone has to like. Personally, I like poems with a very musical or flowing feel to them. I hate poems that are intricate and so filled with complex symbolism that I can't tell one word from the other. In all honesty, a LOT of poems are like that. But every once in a while, you get a nice, simple, and down-to-earth piece of poetry that just lifts your soul. You know what what I mean? After all, poems are usually created for the audience - whether that be to prove a point, or to simply evoke an experience in the readers themselves. 

         Poems are used for enjoyment, for learning, for gaining techniques like memorization and applying those techniques to other elements in life, for writing, for music, to prove points, and to boost people's everyday moral. In my opinion, poetry has thoroughly embedded itself into the everyday life of people worldwide. Poetry is something in life that just clicks, and it will grow even larger before you know it!

The Theory of Hope (CC)

        For the poetry project in class, I'm analyzing "Hope is the Thing With Feathers" by Emily Dickinson - a poem that speaks out about the value of hope through many layers of symbolism and metaphors. Yes, I understand the collective frustration with Dickinson from our discussions in class and agree that most of her poetry is just too complicated - or in some senses way too simplistic. However, that doesn't mean I hate all of her poetry. In fact, I love some of the poems she wrote throughout her lifetime. Everyone has good works and some not-so-good works - it all depends on which the viewer is reading and their own personal opinion on the matter. So, I know I like at least one of Emily Dickinson's poems, and that's that.
        So, since I've been looking at this poem and researching it both at class and at home, I can't help thinking about hope. Just how important is hope, anyway? It seems like sometimes hope is all people have in life - it leads them through their darkest hours and guides them to better days. Everyone therefore has at least some sense of hope. Even those people who think that talking about hope is "too cheesy" or "lame" have their own personal hopes and wishes - it's something internal that we can't really shut off. Hope is pretty important then, wouldn't you say?
        Think of it like this: What if hope didn't exist? What would the world be like? All I know is that it would not be good. People would lose all of their ambition, all of their determination to find their dreams, because their hope would be replaced with despair. Everything that could have been accomplished would seem out of reach and impossible. No one would take the "leaps of faith" that they do today. Without taking chances, people never grow. It's something we just have to do. If we can't hope, we can't achieve those crazy goals we establish. Hope is what makes growth possible - it's what allows us to keep on pushing ourselves forward in life and refusing to give up. In a way, hope is what keeps us sane.
        So, this may just seem like a happy-go-lucky post about the value of faith in one's life, but hope really is an incredibly important part of the world. Hope and the will to live are tied together. They go hand in hand - if you lose one, you lose the other. Without hope we have nothing to live for - the will to live is something only reached through the power of hope. How does a young adult leave home and move towards the future? Hope. How does someone with an emotional disorder keep on going in life? Hope. How does a bird learn how to fly? Hope. It's something that just sticks with us through all of our days. Hope allows us to keep on trying, keep on racing towards new and brighter horizons. It's what makes us dreamers, and what gives us determination. Hope, faith, believing in even the most unrealistic dreams - it gives us something to ground us in this world - something to live for.