Does Poetry Matter?

Of course it does. That's an easy question to answer. Poetry tells us stories from the past, both historical and fiction, and brings a sense of whimsical romanticism to daily lives. I enjoy poetry because of the sounds of the rhyming words, and the topics which poets write on. Anything, from simple conversation to an ode about someone, can sound amazing when read in proper stanza and time. Poetry is a lot like music. It makes you feel happy. Dana Gioia gives the reader of her article at least two reasons why poetry matters. She connects poetry to the freedom of speech, and says that poetry gives you the power to understand language. The other reason she gives is that the decline in poetry shows a decline in other art forms, all of which an intellectual society should not lose.

If the question had been " Does poetry matter to the youth of America?", I would have answered no. Poetry does not matter to most people, let alone the youth and even most people in college. Isn't that one of the reasons we studied fiction before moving to poetry in our class? Little to no one cares about poetry any more because it is "hard". It's hard to write a poem, its hard to read poetry, and its even harder to make out the jumble of words. American youth would much rather watch television or eat Taco Bell than ever consider writing or listening to poetry.

The ultimate question should be: How can we make poetry matter? We can do this by making it more enjoyable for the youth. If kids would realize that some of their favorite musicians, especially in the rap genre, are poets kids would appreciate poetry more. Now if rap music was cleaner, and less derogatory towards women...