All Whimpers and No Bang:  A Brief Explanation of Necessary Poetry

Poetry is organic; it grows and evolves with culture and moments, maintaining themes and revelations that have, throughout the span of its existence, revealed the essence of human nature, and in doing so, it has sprung a multitude of forms and subject matter, ranging from the intimate longing maintained within a sonnet to the tawdry nature of a limerick.  Thus, with these many styles, it is almost natural to categorize and rank poems based on their necessity in the world.  Yet, how does one decide what poem is necessary?  Is there one specific type of poem that outranks others?  Is there a hierarchy of the forms or styles or subject matter?  Not quite.  Due to diversity within the poetic spectrum, there cannot be a simplification on what deems a poem necessary; otherwise, the multiple platforms used to express human emotion through poetry would become trivial, and in turn, belittle how people experience and reflect on moments in life.  For instance, poems with a social vision cannot be considered vital and all others inferior; or, poems that make people laugh cannot take precedence, while more serious ones are cast aside.  Instead, a loose definition, which entails a large degree of poems crafted as well as their associated tenors and vehicles, must define what it means to be a necessary poem.  Therefore, poetry that is essential to the world is determined by the resonance it has with human emotion.

Of course, “resonance” is rather ambiguous for a definition, because it still requires one to pinpoint what makes a poem resonate with human emotion.  While this vagueness needs to be addressed, the bond between poetry and people cannot be examined with thorough and systematic criteria, because such standardization would distort the broad scope that the definition has already established, which is necessary to encompass the variety of human experience; therefore, a clarification of the term “resonance,” through brief examples, will suffice.  

Namely, in Marilyn Hacker’s sonnet “I want this love to be resilient,” the speaker utilizes imagery in order to convey desire, which is a key part of human emotion.  She “want[s] this love to be resilient / as crabgrass cracking the interstices / of paving stones until the sidewalks burst” (1-3); yet, she goes beyond simply stating her desire: through her imagery she manages to combine banal elements, “the sidewalks,” “crabgrass,” “interstices,” etc., and in doing so, gives her desire a concrete footing, something that people can appreciate because it is not lost in abstractions.  Furthermore, the speaker makes “crabgrass,” a common entity—one that is seen nearly everyday—that is not typically considered an object of love, into a sign of resistance and perseverance.  Therefore, this poem serves to illustrate how poetry speaks to people on an intimate level, because it crafts imagery from normal, concrete entities common to many people, and, as a result, the speaker’s message is enhanced; it is easier to visualize and more universal in not only its message but its execution.

Similarly, in Steve Scafidi’s “The Morality of Bodies,” the speaker’s honest and direct voice allows for an accessible piece, and, consequently, the poem and its audience share a bond through their understanding of human emotion.  Specifically, the speaker wants “to kill all / fathers” (25-26) when he learns that his friend’s father “walked in / to her room one night while the moon was out / and did to her what nations do to one another / also” (21-24).  The speaker’s main accomplishment in this poem is that he creates such raw emotion within the framework of his own experience, and that such experience and emotion can be translated into a universal message; namely, his rage toward the specific abuse his friend received is an instance that illustrates the essential component of compassion and sympathy that is a part of human emotion.  Thus, the audience, even if they have not experienced such abuse, or know someone who has been a victim, can still understand how the speaker feels through his direct tone and clear speech.

Yet, Ogden Nash employs a different tactic for poetic insight about the human experience in “Reflections on Ice-Breaking.”  The speaker states in four lines: “Candy / Is dandy / But liquor / Is quicker.”  Thus, the poem depends heavily on its briefness, rhyme scheme, and honesty; namely, the speaker makes the poem memorable, which is key for a successful poem, by having a short length and also for its simple rhyme scheme of AABB.  Likewise, through this simplified form and execution, the speaker makes the subject matter light-hearted and fun, and in doing so, the poem succeeds by engaging the audience about human experience of meeting new people while leaving enough ambiguous diction to allow for universality.

While these are only a couple examples, they will suffice for clarification on what resonates with human emotion.  Yet, they must not be considered limiting factors, insofar that there cannot be other aspects that tap into human emotion with similar effectiveness, in terms of poetry.

Thus, necessary poetry can be defined as any poetry that resounds with anything pertaining to the human condition—emotion and experience; all types of poetry are necessary, which means that all forms encapsulate a part of this human essence, whether through its execution or its message or both.