Is Poetry Pointless?

To call poetry pointless is certainly controversial, but how many of us settle down to read a good poem? Does anyone actually pack a poetry book into their holiday hand luggage, along with their sun cream and passport?

One of the problems with poetry is that it is often difficult to understand, and can be a struggle for many readers. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that most of us opt for a novel or newspaper rather than a ballad. Another reason why poetry rarely features in the hands of commuters is that poetry can be frustrating with its elaborate metaphors, images and ideas which are often rather far-fetched. However, it’s unfair to criticise poets for their efforts: after all, they express their ideologies through profound techniques which require great technical skill. Plus, there is no doubt that many poems address serious issues and matters, from war, to society, to love. Poems can also be highly useful and fitting within specific situations: an epitaph on a gravestone or a sonnet for wedding vows.

As a female journalist, I can’t resist but suggest that deep down we all love a good sonnet because, in today’s society, men just don’t do love poems. Romantic poetry is scarce amongst the lives of most women, and only really appears in a Clinton’s card, but even here the poems and verses are simply cheesy. Even though Shakespeare’s mistress had eyes ‘nothing like the sun’, do we secretly envy her because she at least had a sonnet written for her?

Unfortunately, it seems the poem lacks value in today’s bookshelves and Christmas lists, yet we should refuse to merely dismiss the form when it can instantly induce moods; narratives are simply too long to capture and stimulate thoughts and ideas of credible severity and significance. Overall, the poem can be valued as it holds much power: to sweep a woman off her feet, a simple sonnet, moving monologue or benevolent ballad is all it takes!