Question

In his TED Talk, Lemon Andersen admits, “I thought poetry was just self-expression. I didn't know you actually have to have creative control.” How do two or more of the poets from this unit combine “self-expression” with “creative control” in order to give voice to both personal and cultural experiences?

Answer 1

Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of feelings. It is the criticism of life. a poet portrays the social picture in his own way and he is not out of society. Various social factors lead the poet to write poetry.

Poetry is an act of imagination and depending on the wings of imagination the poets draw the social picture. It is also assume that poetry is the vehicle of general history and it reflects the development of the human society. There are poetry on national movement, human struggle, the pain and pleasure of the human beings and so on. Through the the imagination of the poets the reality of the surrounding is reflected. In Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats we find the beautiful presentation of reality.

It is true that poetry is spontaneous overflow of feelings. But at the same time it is also true that the poets are not allowed to say what they see or think. There is not so much freedom of speech. When a poet writes against the authority then he is attacked and even arrested by the authority. When Shelley wrote against monarchy he was banished and his books were banned in England.

Poetry is a form of beauty and the realisation of beauty. It is not only the poets who feel the beauty. It is also the readers who take enjoyment by reading the poetry and they also feel the beauty expressed by the poet. At the same time it is also the means of humanity and morality. It establishes the moral perspective of the poet as well as the society. A poet always wants the wellbeing of human beings and establishment of morality and peace in the society.