Poetry Week 2

Well, he we are in week 2 of poetry, and I have to admit: I have never honestly enjoyed poetry. I myself am not sure as to why this is; after all, I have come to enjoy all other creative works: novels, movies, video games, and anything else, but the supposed beauty of poems has always managed elude me, no matter the form presented, whether they be sonnets, haiku, or free verse. So, here I am, stuck with the assignment of analyzing the poetic conversation between Archibald Marsh and Andrew Marvell, with Mark Strand acting as an interpreter of sorts. First, Strand seems to have the ability to personally relate to "You, Andrew Marvell" by Archibald Marsh, feeling as though he actually was the "face down beneath the sun," and that "he now felt located" purely because of this poem. While I do agree that it provides a contrast to Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress," a poem in which the narrator seems concerned about "time's winged chariots hurrying near," implying that he believes there is not enough time in the world for all of his desires to be fulfilled, and it creates a slight conversation between the two poems, both taking clearly conflicting sides, beyond that, I do not personally feel there is much more meaning in either poem. I feel that most poems can be summed up in a few words. For the former, "Time passes continually, but we have plenty of it," and for the latter, "Time is short and restricts us from satisfying out desires." While yes, such descriptions may be crude, when the academic language is stripped away from the interpreted themes we write in class, descriptions such as the ones mentioned are typically what remains.

Is less more? I do not honestly believe so. While I appreciate poems for what they are, rhythmically written pieces with a central theme that allow for multiple, and occasionally wildly varying interpretations, they simply do not appeal to me personally. I like having a vast pool of resources that support my interpretations of a written work as opposed to trying to squeeze meaning out of every single word. While that may restrict the number of interpretations a written piece can contain, I honestly feel it allows for the author's message to come across more cleanly and with less ambiguity.

In the end, am I wrong, misinterpreting the entire concept of poetry as a whole? Perhaps, but from everything I have experienced, from the simple four line poems in third grade to the multiple page poems in my senior year, these are the only conclusions I have been able to reach personally. Perhaps my opinion will change as I grow older, maybe even undergo a sudden epiphany as Strand did, but as I am now, those are my true opinions. Anyway, next week I'll be analyzing two new poems, so I guess I get to have more fun fumbling around trying to find meaning in them.