We Are Not Responsible By Harryette Mullen

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Recommended: A little learning poem analysis

When determining what is good poetry, the analysis does not need to be conducted by experts of poetry. The goal of poetry is to provide a means of communication from the author to the reader or listener, so those on the receiving end of poetry can measure the success of this communication. However, these opinions are inherently subjective. Even if two people agree that a certain poem is an example of good poetry, they may disagree on what makes this poem exceptional. Personally, I believe that good poetry expresses sophisticated thoughts, while also creating a songlike sound when read or heard. Good poetry provides meaningful commentary. One indication of a poem’s success in this is the depth of thought the reader has as a result of the poem. The poems I anthologized may take different …show more content…

For example, in “We Are Not Responsible,” a poem written by Harryette Mullen, the narrator is an employee on a plane, who is speaking over a loudspeaker. This is all a metaphor and the poem is really a social commentary addressing the problems with racial stereotypes. Mullen could have wrote a paragraph in prose, but instead chose to write a more ambiguous poem, requiring the reader to think about the subject. That being said, in my opinion, great poems use concise and understandable language to best communicate their message. Poetry is often synonymous with unnecessary and outdated language, but this does not have to be the case. The poem “Weep,” written by George Moses Horton, gives a comprehensible description of the Civil War and its effects. Good poetry uses metaphor and complex language when a subject can not be described in a universally

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