Blog #2 Poetry Reflection

Dear Readers,


So, in this post I am asked to compare writing poetry and writing about poetry. Both are pretty hard, but I think writing about poetry is much easier. I use to say there are two kinds of smarts: the ability to get shakespear and the ability to write shakespear. Then, I later read basically that same idea in a book and it ticked me off that someone else thought of that. But anyway, the point is, to me it is much easier to analyze and interpret and understand other interpretations than it is to create something worth analyzing in the first place.
Here is a similiarity that I encountered: Whether I am creating poetry or writing about someone's elses poetry it all starts with a central idea. For creating poetry, it is some kind of key message or powerful idea that I want others to understand as strongly as I feel I do. And so when I write the poem I write it in a way that I feel further conveys this message. Then usually I end up thinking of separate branches or elements of that idea as I'm creating the poem and those end up getting incorporated in my poetry as well. I think this is how poems have various themes and interpretations in them. This is also similar with writing about poetry. I start off with a main idea in my head, maybe an initial impression or thought on the work. Then that gets expanded when I brainstorm on how I will write about it. Before you know it, I have a main idea transformed into a thesis and various paragraphs either describing the different elements of that idea or expanding on its meaning.
As for the differences, I think good poetry probably isn't specifically written to incorporate various levels of analyzation. I mean you don't write poetry to have it contain various elements. You write it for a different more personal purpose, however, you write it so well that it naturally contains those things. In order to write poetry you have to write it with your natural voice without thinking about trying to make it complex. This is different from writing about poetry. When writing about poetry you want to have your writing become complex. But not for the sake of complexity, more so to show the connections you've made with the poetry and your own ideas. I think it's a little less natural than writing poetry. I mean, if I was to write about a poem as natural as possible, it probably wouldn't be as thorough, nor as insightful. It would probably just be a bunch of random feelings that were in my head, sort of like how an elementary student writes about a story.
Going back to my original idea that was stolen by someone else, it's a bit ironic that I would consider creating poetry smarter than writing about it, yet, at the same time, would say that writing about poetry has to contain a train of thought that is more thorough and insightful. I guess your natural voice has to be smarter than your thorough insightful voice. And if it is, you've really got something worth studying.