Here is an article that highlights some "bad poetry". After reading Mr. Simbeck's blog post from last week, read over the poems in this article. It is so easy to get it wrong, isn't it! Even some of our favorites have made significant blunders. After reading the article, make a comment about whether or not a poem or a piece of art can be considered "bad". Then, find a poem that you think is "good" and share it with us. Tell us what you love about it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10651864/The-worst-poems-by-great-writers.html
While none of these poems struck me as "bad," I admit some of them are simply inappropriate poems to be shared with an audience. As an artist, I do not believe that art in any form should be considered "bad," as art is a literal expression of one's soul - no matter how thoughtlessly it is created. Anyone should be free to express themselves through both visual art as well as written works, and no one should feel as though they are not "skilled" enough to express themselves in this way. I so often hear people tell me "oh, I wish I was an artist" or "I wish I could be a writer." And each time I respond with, "well, you can be." All it takes is a pencil and a notebook. That being said, there are are some artists who have been revered for the flawlessness of their work, and that is because many of them chose to publish only certain pieces of theirs to the public. There is a good chance that many of "the greats" have, at one point or another, kept secret personal writings for themselves that would not necessarily be considered exceptional. Even with those whose work was found after their death, they chose to write down only that which they thought was "good." Who's to say these artists did not have ideas in their mind, but chose not to use them because they were considered "bad"?
ReplyDeletePainting a picture that looks as if it was done by a toddler is perfectly acceptable if it allows one to express their creativity. However, one should probably not submit this piece of art to a prestigious art museum and expect it to be admitted. Likewise, it was perfectly alright for the poets mentioned in this article to write the poetry that they did. However, it may not have been the wisest choice for them to share their works with the public, as the critical perspectives of the audience was far from accepting of the poets' great lack of charisma in these pieces.
One poem that I especially like comes from a book of poetry I have in my room. It is a poem by Lord Byron, an exceptionally popular romantic poet, and it is called "When We Two Parted." The poem is quite simple, but also very complex at the same time. When reading it once, the audience assumes it is simply a poem about love and heartbreak. But after reading it a few times over, the reader realizes little things that make him or her wonder more about the relationship. Some things I noted were the recurring theme of silence, which contrasted with the "knell to mine ear" Lord Byron mentions when he hears her name. I also wondered about the line "in secret we met." It makes me wonder if perhaps the two were forced apart, almost like a Romeo and Juliet type of story. There were quite a few other things I noticed, but those are a few among them.
I like how you pointed out that expression is alright, but that one shouldn't expect to submit everything they do to a prestigious museum. Every piece of art is "good" in the sense that it allows someone to show how they think or feel, but not every piece is "great." Only great works of art should be published for everyone to view because it is these pieces that will move he most people.
DeleteMary, I really liked the way you stated that while things may not be museum worthy, they still are not completely bad. Some of these poems I found absolutely horrendous, but when the author was writing I'm sure they thought it was good. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, but in these cases I don't know if anyone other than the author finds these poems too beautiful.
DeleteArt cannot be done wrong. Art is a way to express emotion and ideas, a process that has no right or wrong. In addition, art takes so many forms and styles it is hard to determine if the piece is following the rules of a specific medium or not. While rules are made to help the masses succeed, they can be overruled with no consequences in some instances. Placing rules on expression seems silly when one considers expression in and of itself. Why should we limit the soul? However the artist chooses to express themself, some pieces of art can be done better than others due to the level of skill the artist has and the amount of time they put into their work. A hobbyist will not achieve the same level of mastery that career artist will develop. Despite the different levels of skill, each artist is making "good" art. They are expressing themselves, and that is really what art is all about.
ReplyDeleteOne poem I believe is good is "the lesson of the moth" by Don Marquis. (Yes the title is supposed to be lowercase, that's how he titled it.) This poem is a free verse poem with no capitalization or punctuation. For this reason, some people might label it a "bad" poem. I disagree. The meaning and message of this poem always strike me on a personal level, and force me to consider my passions. Don Marquis uses a deceased philosopher named archy (again, not capitalized on purpose) who was reincarnated as a cockroach to narrate his poems. In this poem, archy is watching a moth try to kill himself on an electric light bulb. He asks why moths always try to kill themselves with fire, and the moth responds "it is better to be happy for a moment and be burned up with beauty than to live a long time and be bored all the while." The moth is passionate, and believes life should be lived to the fullest extent. The cockroach maintains that he would rather live forever and be bored than be happy for a short period of time. Whenever I read this poem I evaluate my own life, and see which of the two insects I am most like, the bored cockroach or the brilliant moth.
I also think that all forms of art should be considered "good," as they all allow the artist to exhibit a part of them in physical form. One can choose to tell their story through poetry, and even if it does not make sense to the reader, it is still exceptional in that it is a form of expression that no one else has done before - it's innovative. Likewise, one can throw a pile of soda cans in a pile and call it art, because for them, it tells a story. Although it may not be the Mona Lisa, it is still remarkable and should not be shamed.
DeleteDid we read "Death of a Moth" last year?
DeleteI agree, Ashley, art cannot be bad because it expresses emotion. Saying a piece is bad is like telling the creator they are not allowed to think or feel the way they felt. Art is an outward appearance of inside emotions, and therefore can be whatever it wants.
DeleteAlthough I do not particularly care for any of these poems, I am sure there must be someone who sees a beauty in them because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To me, they lacked depth, but maybe they meant something more to the author. I am not sure, but the best part about life is that everyone has a different style, whether other people liked it or not. If everyone wrote the same poetry, it would not be possible for there to be an extraordinary one because it would be like everyone else's. I admire every author's bravery to express themselves in their own way.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite poem is For Women Who Are Diffucult to Love by Warsan Shire. Warsan Shire is a beautiful poet with a very unique style, and I love all her work. My affinity for this poem began because it is all about a girl having expectations for a man too big to be met. In the end, she tried to change herself, but he left her anyways. The poem closes saying "You are terrifying and strange and beautiful, something not everyone knows how to love." That line registers with me on a deep level because I know I can be hard for some people to handle, let alone love, but it tells me that some people just cannot handle my strangeness. Another line that I love is "you can't make homes out of human beings someone should have already told you that." I love this because I pride myself on how I am independent when it comes to my happiness. It breaks my heart to watch fellow high schoolers depend on boyfriends or friends to bring them happiness, because humans are not homes. Like Esther said in the bell jar, they are dust.
Well Esther didn't say that. It was the jerk she was dating. And I think he said it to hurt her because he knew how important the art of writing was to her. Poems aren't dust actually, because they have a lasting impact of their audience. And although poetry does not appeal to everyone, if it touches even one person, it lasts, right?
DeleteI completely agree with the statement "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I have so often looked at a piece of artwork and thought "wow, that is so ugly." But at the same time, I have a great sense of respect and appreciation not only for the piece, but for the artist. And I think that is really important. There is no rule that says that you have to love every piece of art. Often, we find that not every piece speaks to us, and that is okay. However, it becomes wrong when people start to speak ill of another's work, as no one truly knows the meaning behind a piece, no matter how "ugly."
DeleteWell...I'm pretty sure no one particularly cared for these poems since they were included in this so called "Hall of Shame." And they must have meant something to the author, or else they would not have ended up publishing these...well...I don't even know if I can call these poems. They were pretty bad. But if there were never any bad poems, then there would be nothing with which to establish a benchmark for good poetry. So...I guess...in a way...we should all be thankful for bad poetry. Because without it, we wouldn't know what good poetry is.
DeleteOh yes, poetry can be bad. Poetry can be very bad. Poetry is like any other form of art. And all art can be bad. Heck, look at some of my works of art. They'll make yours eyes bleed and literally disintegrate in your eye sockets. Anyways, jokes aside, art can be bad. A great example is modern art, which is just a lazy excuse for art. Art from the Renaissance was masterful. Modern art is crap. In this same way, poetry can be very bad. If you basically just go about finding random words that rhyme and then stringing them together with superfluous words does not make good poetry. It just makes a jumble of wording where some of those words happen to rhyme. That's a blob of words. Pathetic. Garbage. Not good.
ReplyDeleteSome of the poems in the article that we read I would consider garbage. Although I'm hesitant to do this, as I know I cannot do any better. My poetry would be very blob-like. But anyways, when thinking of examples, some that come to mind are the poems by William Shakespeare and Andrew Motion. I mean seriously, "Civil as an orange/ and something of that jealous complexion."? You can do better than that William.
A poem that I particularly enjoy is The Man in the Jar. It's really hilarious, I suggest you all read it. The reason I like it is because it reminds me of the first poems I learned way back in the day. That may be a little tacky, but I don't care. It makes my day reading it sometimes. Anyways, that's all I have.
I agree that modern art is a bit weird. The use of shapes and colors is interesting, and ends up looking like something that belongs on a hotel wall. Many people look at modern art and say "I couldve done that!" The reason that its art is because they did it, and they put it out there. In addition, this art is still a form of self expression, so I wouldn't say it is bad art.
DeleteI really enjoy going to modern art museums. The pieces make me wonder if the author actually had a vision in mind or if they are just trying to screw with the minds of the viewers. Oddly, I'm a lot better at interpreting modern art than I am at poetry. Poetry really is hard for me to wrap my mind around because it's made up of one individual's thoughts that they have thrown into words.
DeleteI actually really enjoy modern art because it has a unique perspective, and it is nothing in particular. It makes you think more into it because it is not a realistic picture. If I wanted to look at a realistic picture, I would look at photography. I like seeing what the human mind can create without copying sometbing exactly.
DeleteI absolutely think that poetry can be bad. This may be due to the fact that I do not like a lot of poetry, but I also think that some poetry is just horrendous. I am able to appreciate a lot of poems and their author's ideas but sometimes I have to ask myself what the heck these people are thinking. The examples that are shown in the article actually made me cringe. I mean these people had to have known it was bad when they were writing it. The point is, there is definitely a difference between good poetry and bad poetry. Good poetry can convey the beauty or message that the author sees while bad poetry only makes the reader question the writer's sanity. I think the real objective of poetry is for the author to express their feelings about an item or a situation. With that being said, I don't think that anyone can say that a poem is wrong. Everyone has their own interpretations but the examples in the article are just painful.
ReplyDeleteOne poem that I really like is Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath. After reading The Bell Jar, I was intrigued and wanted to read some of the other things she wrote. The poem is beautifully written, and because of reading the Bell Jar I could better understand the content of the poem. I really appreciated the way that the poem is set up and the phrases that she puts within each stanza. Plath also conveys her emotions and feelings throughout. I feel like Plath became such a popular writer because she put was able to put the feelings of so many people into words. For example, I enjoyed The Bell Jar because she talked about so many things that I thought I was the only one experiencing. I think that many people find solace in her writings and her ideas and that is why I find her poems so beautiful.
I certainly agree with you on the fact that poetry can be pretty bad. I never actually exerted myself with reading a lot of poetry. And I don't know if I lack the creativity to understand what some poets are trying to express, but I find myself thinking the same thing that you were. I mean, how could these poets actually have the self confidence to publish such awful pieces of art? I don't know... But anyway, I certainly enjoyed reading your comment on this prompt. By the way, Lady Lazarus is a great poem.
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