Ashleigh Jarrell
Taryn Humphries
English 11
24 March, 2014
Key to the Soul
“Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.” - T.S. Elliot. Going through this project has made me appreciate poetry more than ever. When I read the words by T.S. Eliot and Mary Barnet, I can hear them speaking to my heart, my inner soul. Reading what they say puts into words exactly how I feel. I know for a fact that everyone in their life wants to escape at least once. This usually happens when you are going through something difficult. For me, that time is now.
Going through english classes, every time I would hear them mention poetry, I would cringe. I never understood it nor did I want to. It was complicated, I couldn't understand the huge words, nor understand the meaning of the poem. I only had a few things I knew about poetry, some figures of speech, words that I never knew were categorized as sound devices (ex. onomatopoeia and alliteration). I could pick out free verse poetry and I very much preferred it to read. Also, Gothic Literature was one of the first things I learned while growing up. One of the first poems I ever read was The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. I have always felt connected with Edgar Allen Poe, as creepy as that sounds. He just has a way of showing how bad some things can be without scaring people terribly.
During this recent unit of poetry, I learned all the unique figures of speech, found out exactly what sound devices were, and trained myself to become a deeper thinker, which has made me understand poetry more and more. I am now able to use what I thought were simple words, piece them all together, and find out what the author is trying to convey. I have also realized how many elements of poetry there actually were, I would not be surprised if there were even more that we were not able to learn. When I received the assignment packet of the elements of poetry, realizing it was blank, meaning I would have to look everything up myself. Thinking of how much time and effort it would take made me sick at my stomach. Ok, not really, although it was a lot to take in at the time.
I never realized that so many things could be picked out in a single piece of poetry. Knowing how many elements of poetry there were made me ponder on how many different types of poems there could be. They type of poetry of a specific author is called the “style.” One of the styles we learned about in this unit was the Puritan style. To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet is an example of the Puritan style. The Puritans were serious lovers of God. No one could think of anything/anyone being superior than the Lord. Anne Bradstreet goes out on her own emotions and makes her husband seem higher than God. Throughout the poem though, she combines her husband and religion into one. Her love for her husband and her love for God are equal. This was shamed upon in the Puritan lifestyle. The Puritan style shows how the different styles are chosen, through your own lifestyle; where you live and what your life compiles of.
During my seventeen years of existence, I never thought there was a difference between poetry written before our time and the poetry written today. I had never heard of the words traditional and modern spoken during a poetry studying session. Learning the differences in this unit made me feel very dumb and less educated.
Throughout the rest of my school years I have decided to become more open-minded and to take in what I am being taught with a clear mind. I have chosen to try and not rush through what I am learning and to take it all in while I can. You never know when you might need it one day.