Poetry All Around

Were you watching when Amanda Gorman, the 2017 National Youth Poet Laureate*, read her tribute to essential workers before the Super Bowl? Gorman also read a poem she wrote, “The Hill We Climb,” at the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January.

April is National Poetry Month. This week, The Mini Page learns more about this creative way of expressing our thoughts and feelings.

Exploring poetry

DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II

The rhymes we learn when we’re very young stick with us for years and years. This is because poetry makes our words more memorable.

Poetry is not always rhyming words. But it always uses language in a remarkable way.

Ancient people believed that because poets could build a story or a thought in an interesting way, they had more power than ordinary people.

For instance, religious texts might be written in a rhythmic (RITH-MIC) verse. These words seemed inspired by higher powers.

People also made warnings and curses more memorable with verse, such as this saying:

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

* A poet laureate serves as the official poet of the United States. The Youth Poet Laureate honor is awarded each year.

Kids and poetry

Kids naturally love poetry. Children make up rhymes all the time, even using nonsense words.

Some of children’s favorite authors are poets, including Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss, who was famous for nonsense lines like this one from “Bartholomew and the Oobleck”:

Shuffle, duffle, muzzle, muff!

What is poetry?

When someone writes a story using prose (language written or spoken in an ordinary way), the story is the most important thing.

But when an author uses poetry, the way the words read or sound is part of the goal, along with the story.

Gorman’s recent performances are great examples of how the cadence, or rhythmic flow, and timing can make words much more dramatic. (Watch Gorman’s inauguration presentation here: bit.ly/ Mpgorman.)

Visual poetry

Visual poetry is meant to be seen. For example, a poem about the ocean might be written in the shape of waves, or a poem about baseball might be written in the shape of a ball. This is also called a calligram.