Posted by Elana Evenden , GD Creative Non-Fiction Reader for 7.1
In several of my English classes this semester, professors have raised this question: Will people continue to read poetry that hasn’t been assigned for a class? This question has me thinking that maybe poetry is a changing art form and accessible to readers in new ways. We’ve all been there in those sad, angst-filled teenage years where ‘no one understood you.’ What other way to get your feelings out than some sappy, crappy poetry? So, let us be honest, poetry has all made its way into our lives as a way to rant our feelings, reading assignments, or through music, rap or slam poetry. Therefore, can poetry ever truly die or just evolve?
People may no longer want to read the classics for fun, but poetry is available and expressed on a whole new medium in 2018. This being said, it may be sad for many seeing that poetry is not promoted the way it used to be. When one steps into Barnes and Noble, only the popular best sellers are up front. Poetry is normally pushed to a back corner in an unorganized way making stumbling across a good book of poetry almost impossible. Personally, I believe this goes hand in hand with the idea of big businesses. Independent bookstores are dying out, while larger scale bookstores are focused on making a name for the company more so than the literature available. Barnes and Noble is not what it used to be in this digital age. Perhaps the concept of holding a book has changed to people as kindles and iPhones are much more readily available than carrying around a book. Continue reading
