Why You Should Be Reading Poetry
As someone who likes to read, I often hear that people would like to get into more literature but either don’t or can’t find time to commit to a book. This is where I come in. Here is my advice to you: branch out what kinds of works you are reading. I am lucky enough to study literature and have professors who force the expansion of my resources, so from that I would like to spread a bit of what I have learned.
Poetry is an incredible and unique form of literature that can be as short as a single stanza or span an entire epic. The poetry I have often come into contact with and enjoy is by iconic authors such as Dickinson, Shakespeare, Donne, etc., whose writings are timeless and classic. Poetry can provide an incredibly creative form of social commentary in a couple of lines, just like art on a page. The rhyme and lilt of a poem creates tone and expression that creatively alludes to something you may not suspect.
The endless interpretations encourage a reader to think, even if they only spent five minutes reading the poem. Keeping up with new and old poetry also gives the opportunity for one to dive within the mind of the narrator, and become the sole recipient of their emotions in that moment. As displayed in a study by Oxford Academic, poetry has been shown to create the same emotional response as when one listens to music. The same study also revealed that reading poetry creates a heightened sense of self-reflection and memory.
When reading a poem, you can be released into a world of rhyme, or the free-verse ramblings of a brilliant mind. Not only should you pay attention to the words on the page, but see if the writing takes an interesting shape, or uses the same words over and over again. What are they trying to tell you? What do the adjectives that you glance over mean when every word counts? I love to find out.
If you like a mystery, social commentary, or just creativity in general, the quickest way to get your fix is some free online poetry. Below I am going to list my favorite poems that I have read over the years. Please enjoy!
Emily Dickinson’s: “Don’t Stop for Death”
Walt Whitman’s: “Song of Myself”
Gwendolyn Brooks’: “We Real Cool”
Sylvia Plath’s: “Mad Girl’s Love Song”
Maya Angelo’s: “Still I Rise”
Langston Hughes’: “I, Too”
Strike Out,
Written by: Rebecca Morgan
Edited by: Sarah Singleton
Graphic by: Rook Tilley
