Poetry Reflection 3-25-15

Prompt:  Based on our study of poetry, please take the time now to reflect and respond to what you have learned.

Date:  3-25-15

          Poetry does have a significant effect on my life, because of how it makes me think of every day events.  After having to analyze line after line for all kinds of poems, and having to rack my mind for new ideas to include in my lines, I have a natural instinct to think harder about almost everything.  Also, there's been poetry constructed about practically every aspect of life, so poems with different word choice and point of view has really changed my perspective on many topics.  Speaking of word choice, I feel that poetry has really opened my mind up to new vocabulary and diction.  Authors have included all kinds of words in their works of poetry, whose meanings I discovered with context clues.  Now I can incorporate them into my own writing and speech.

          I feel that the majority of people in this world, especially students and previous students, have had some sort of connection, or relationship to poetry.  Some people might not like or appreciate poetry as much as others, but in my opinion, everyone's affected by poetry in a positive way at some point.  I'm confident about this theory, because of how I think of my experiences with poetry.  Honestly, poetry isn't exactly on my favorite subject list.  However, I've taken a lot away from all the lessons we've been given, and event though it might be boring to me, I've gotten a lot of good out of poetry.  Therefore, I feel that several other students have had similar relationships with poetry, and other topics.

          We've gone through this discussion before, and I definitely do think the life or experiences of a poet affect their writing style.  Our class has discussed the example of Edgar Allan Poe, and I also like to use the example of myself.  Due to my interest and love towards sports, I've realized that many of my poems reflected back or were about sports.  Depending on the author's general lifestyle, and whether or not it was more negative or positive.  I really think it would be easier for someone to write about something that they've experienced and what their more open to.  Can't you see how it wouldn't be to easy for someone to write about a really negative life and experience, if they've grown up with everything great?  That's how I think the life of a poet changes their poetry.