Poetry

Poetry is a literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm. Though this is how the dictionary defines it, I don't think it covers just how much expression can be put into this art form and just how much it can make people feel.

An Impactful Poem

Poetry as a whole is one of the most impactful forms of literature but of course, there are some pieces of poetry more impactful than others. Personally, I think that Benedict Smith's I Wish I Wrote The Way I Thought is one of these pieces. I Wish I Wrote The Way I Thought is a piece of prose about being unable to translate one's feelings into intelligible writings. This was so impactful to me because it reminded me of something I had read late last year:

"Language is so fundemental to our perception, we're unable to perceive the flaws built into language itself. It would be difficult to tell, for example, if our vocabulary had fallen badly out of date, and no longer described the world in which we live. We would feel only a strange hollowness in our conversations, never really sure if we're being understood." (Koeing xi)

This quotation is from the introduction of The Dictonary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koeing and is followed by Koeing describing how "we have thousands of words for different types of finches and schooners and historical undergarments, but only a rudimentary vocabulary to capture the delectable subtleties of the human experience."(xi). Personally, I think I Wish I Wrote The Way I Thought is an example of a man with no way to put to words his immense thoughts and emotions. This poem is so impactful to me because I relate to it, and I think that a lot of other people will as well.