Is Poetry Still Relevant Today?
Poetry is a prime form of literary arts and language that had originated in the earliest forms of civilization. It predates one of the earliest forms of human creation on Earth. Like many of its predecessors before, poetry had gained popularity in a vast of diverse ethnic cultures. Though as technology and emerging media becomes increasingly relevant in this current day and age, it is concerning to many whether it is still relevant. A diverse range of people argue that poetry is still a literary necessity in this present standing as they express insight of broader themes among cultures and societal issues that are often overlooked or simply disregarded. Some tend to believe that it is rather outdated and should lean forward to a technological future. Regardless of point of view, poetry remains as one of the most influential literary aspects in human evolution through a multitude of figurative language devices, languages, and cultures.
What is Poetry? How has it Evolved over History?
To put it simply, poetry is a form of writing that uses different kinds of rhythmic flows to sound out different languages. The purpose of writing a poem is to express an array of concepts such as emotions, philosophies, social issues, storytelling, memories, and others to name. Like most writers in the English language, poetry uses a variety of figurative language to give their messages more in-depth meaning rather than telling it directly to give their audience a broader picture and invoke thought. Such examples of figurative language consist of simile, metaphor, imagery, alliteration, juxtaposition, symbolism, personification, repetition, tone, paradox, and a more variety to name.
The earliest poems date back to 2000 BCE in Ancient Sumeria. These ancient forms of literature were a tradition in which the earliest humans from diverse backgrounds would use this kind of oral rhythm for storytelling of legends, real-or-fictional heroes, and religious figures. Poetry can also be found in cultures like Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Rome, and Greece during the BCE era. These kinds of poems would often be used in cases of ceremony, worship, law, recitation, singing, passing down of bloodlines, and other components. As time passed on, poetry would gain widespread recognition among famous poets such as Homer, William Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, and others from periods involving the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Romantic Period, especially the Modern era.
Recent Poets over the Century and What It Signifies
In the modern times of poetry, poets come from a variety of diverse backgrounds. Though people of color’s voices were limited or silenced due to systematic discrimination, many people of diverse backgrounds chose to speak up and break the silence through poetry, as well as other forms of literature and publishing. A most recent example, Amanda Gorman, an African American poet and activist who delivered her most significant work at the Joe Biden Inauguration, The Hill We Climb, on March 30 2021. Like many poets and activists, what makes her poem significant to the public is that it emphasizes the metaphor of ‘the hill’ as the historical influence of overcoming racism.