POETRY: Autobiographical & Thoughtful reflection on Feelings and Frailties

As I was browsing through some poetry quotes this week, I was stopped in my tracks by these 2 quotes. There couldn’t be more accurate description of a poet and their art form than this! You want to know everything about a poet?! Then look no further than his/her poetry. You’ll find everything that you need to know about them within the lines & confines of their poems.

There’s no need to look anywhere else as, in their writing, a poet wears his/her heart on their sleeves and pours all their thoughts onto paper. All their ups and downs; their joys and sorrows; their observations & reflections; their strengths & frailties; their thoughts & feelings along their life’s journey are right there on a piece of paper for all to see.

Which brings us nicely onto Anne Stevenson’s quote concerning poetry being “about human feelings and frailties.” I know a lot of my poems deal or have dealt with these 2 characteristics. Want to see the human heart; weaknesses; emotions and condition in it’s rawest form?! Then look at poet baring his/her soul on the subject of loss or heartbreak or calling out themselves or humanity as a whole on it’s deficiencies.

Anything else is merely a “footnote” in our literary life as Mr. Yevgeny Yevtushenko points out; gloss on top of the picture already painted. It’s why poetry is a calling not a profession as it requires all of you and not just a part.

Advertisement