Why people don’t like poetry?

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Read, write, lead!, Write, create, innovate!

shelley

This essay is inspired by some of the recent comments in this post. And it made me think: why  people really don’t like poetry? What is it that keeps them away from maybe not writing, but from reading some really exquisite pieces by poets from all around the world?

The usual answer is something like “Poetry is boring”, “I don’t understand it”, “It’s a waste of time”. So I wanted to explore this topic a bit further.

If we look more deeply around us, we can notice that people have very little time to appreciate art in general. This fast paced, consumer oriented society has trained us to want everything now and here. An instant satisfaction, an instant thrill, an instant experience: not allowing our biological system to perceive with all its senses; truly absorb our emotions and simply feel.

Life usually demands of us high level of practicality, logical and factual thinking in order for us to be functional and productive on a day to day basis. It’s very noticeable in how we are doing business and science. But where are the boundaries? Have we lost our human touch? In our lives when everything is so exact and explicit we have erased some of the basic human traits: ability to feel and empathize. We cannot treat our most intimate relationships, families and ourselves like we are on a business meeting and signing a business contract.

And there is this soft spot where poetry likes to ‘poke’ you. It demands something different from you. It demands your whole being to respond: if you try logically to analyze a poem, it will take you nowhere; if you search for shortcuts, you will be lost; if you need answers, probably you will be disappointed.

A poem is a journey that allows you to escape from typical factual thinking and forces you to question everything: instead of searching for answers on the outside, you need to look deep inside of you.

There lies the true value of poetry – especially for business leaders, as it can be seen as an antidote to typical business interpretations:

  • poem is associative rather than factual thinking;
  • poem enforces abstract thinking in comparison to deductive thinking.

Like Clare Morgan implies in “What poetry brings to business”:

reading poetry generates conceptual spaces that maybe different from the spaces usually approached in business and life in general.

As poetry is letting yourself to get familiar with the unknown – it shouldn’t instill fear of ambiguity and uncertainty, but rather to be seen as a vehicle, attractive mystical longing that can transcend us across those conceptual spaces and offer different modes of interpretation: a sure way to enrich our creativity in all aspects of our lives.

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

Billy Collins

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316 thoughts on “Why people don’t like poetry?”

  1. I don;t think many people realise how rewarding this form of self-expression can be and then they never discover that you can express yourself through someone else’s poetry too….? Throw that in the discussion perhaps?

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    1. Yes, there are certainly many factors here included – and also education: I remember in high school how approach to poetry is dreadful and many people from these early years carry around negative feelings towards poetry…

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  2. This is a great post. WHY indeed are we threatened, or bullied, or made to feel like a sissy…when we read poetry? Very good questions indeed. I have only recently started to write poetry myself…and I absolutely LOVE it! But reading it? Then my old bugaboos come back: does it rhyme? what does it mean? Should I “get” it? 🙂

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    1. Thanks for the lovely comment:) I’m glad you find writing poetry invigorating and that’s exactly why I like to promote poetry in any form here on the blog. I believe that behind every negative feeling is just fear, fear of something different and unknown. Maybe people are afraid what they will discover about themselves while reading poetry? 🙂

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  4. Poetry as an art form has always been less appreciated and more so with the emphasis on pictorial and graphical representations (due to social media) where lesser words are more, is also one of the reason. Poetry has lots of metaphors and one has to decipher the implied meanings and imageries. Many put emphasis on metrical structure and various forms of poetry styles. Poetry is more of imagination and how the lines convey the true feelings and emotions.

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  5. My response to that Ma’am is…..it’s a question of style – without doubt Kurt Cobain must have had a poetry text or two left over from High School. Ilet my onw mind go nuts when I write and so I can give unending forebearance to anyone else. Unless it rhymes and has corrcet punctuation when I wince.

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    1. It is question of style, I agree. I still keep my first poetry book I wrote in high school – despite tedious literature classes I was still writing. It’s just that we sometimes get too prejudice without giving something a real chance to work for us.

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  7. Sadly, you know why people don’t like poetry. It is because they are too lazy to read and think. I’m a poet. Other Poet’s work is sent to me…it is not easy, I have to think about it…,time and again…then the tenor hits home and I understand. Read, reread and read again…leave it for three days and the meaning will come winging home. Poetry is what starts within the deep levels of my consciousness…it is never a thing left on the surface of interpretation.

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  8. The kids love poetry, they call it rap music and the best of it is really not bad at all. Poets have worked hard to make poetry inaccessible to the modern world where instant gratification is the order of the day. The challenge is for poetry to make itself relevant again. I handed a youngster a small book of poetry recently (By an American author Joy Harjo) and I asked him to read just five poems and then we would talk about them. I asked him not to try to understand them but just absorb them instead, to see the images and let the words wash over him. He was receptive to the idea and did as asked and when we started to talk about the poems he read he was hesitant to talk, afraid he would make a fool of himself and misinterpret the poets words and then I told him what I believe is the key to enjoying poetry. It is a simple thing. Once the poet releases his/her words into the world they become the property of the reader, how you interpret poetry is correct for you. To many teachers and online forums insist on telling us WHAT THE POET meant, thought, felt etc. That is all irrelevant. All that matters is what the reader thought or felt. If we want to make poetry sexy again we have to appeal to the younger generation and they are open to it, after all they are listening to rap.

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    1. I also think when it comes to the younger generations, approach is the key. Rap is a form for them to easily ‘digest’ it and it’s great you have such a positive experience. Thank you for your comment Dave.

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  9. Somehow in the blog world, I disagree about people not liking poetry. I saw a lot of blogs with poetry and a ton of likes and followers. So, I don’t get it. Perhaps this holds true only when it comes to buying a book of poems.

    Liked by 6 people

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    1. That is also something interesting to me: I do see and I am delighted that many people online follow, write and share poetry. But when it comes to ordinary conversations, if you mention poetry, people start to make faces and funny comments. It’s strange and sad in the same time…many people who do like writing/reading poetry get discouraged by their environment instead to be supported. And believe me I’m so grateful that there exist an online community where you can share this form of writing – where you can be you. Thank for your comment Karina 🙂

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  10. You definitely hit on a core reasons people “don’t like people.”

    In regard to difference in the kind of thinking poetry requires both as a writer and a reader, I am reminded of what Keats called Negative Capability: …that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reYouaching after fact and reason – Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half-knowledge. This pursued through volumes would perhaps take us no further than this, that with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration.

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    1. Yes, poetry requires from us to step back and think..and we might not be able always to sense the world from the poet’s point o view, and you so beautifully said:”with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration”…there so much truth in these words. Thank you for your lovely comment 🙂

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  11. These two points answer the question nicely enough:

    poem is associative rather than factual thinking;
    poem enforces abstract thinking in comparison to deductive thinking.

    People don’t like to read, and they don’t like to think. Learning by rote rather than through critical thinking ensures these attitudes. Is poetry taught differently now than when I was a windy boy and a bit?

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  12. Pingback: Sure, It Sounds Good, But What Does It Mean? | therichardbraxton

  13. What an amazing post! Yes, yes a thousand times yes.
    Great concept of a blog, I know I’ve been here before and I’m wondering why I didn’t follow sooner. I must’ve forgotten.

    Lots of interesting posts to read, I’ll be back.

    Be well,

    Prospermind. 🙂

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  14. Excellent post! I agree. I think also that some people maybe do (or perhaps *would*) like poetry, but they wouldn’t admit it. I’ve worked for most of my life to date in very alpha male dominated industries, and it would have gone against the culture of most of the offices/business circles I’ve been in to admit a love for poetry, because it’s seen as “soft”.

    But I think this is an unfair view of poetry. Sure, it opens you up to feelings and makes you think about things, but a lot of poetry is hard and cruel. Like the world itself, it’s multifaceted and only gets better the more you explore it!

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    1. You have highlighted some great points here. Often people are literally mocked because of their affinity to poetry, hence nobody sees the value of poetry in music and songs. People like music as it is multifaceted but so is poetry. And especially in the business world, people are so ‘stuffing’ their emotions, trying to look ’emotionless’ – yet there are many reasons why people are stressed out at work. A little bit of poetry wouldn’t do any harm -on the contrary! 🙂

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  16. Dear Maja, Your article is reflective, so poignant with the essence of a lyric, and so saturated with the poetic self of the sublime. Yes, one can appreciate and love poetry. Anand Bose from Kerala

    Liked by 6 people

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  17. Interesting piece, and I love that Billy Collins poem you share…brilliant! I think Poetry can be a remarkably powerful antidote to the cold cynicism of our times. It’s not about proveable truth, but feelable truth. Thanks for liking my most recent post…I’m happy to ‘meet’ you 🙂 Harula x

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  18. Great explanation for people who don’t get the ‘logic’ of poetry. Many people think of poetry as a bunch of nice-sounding, meaningless hogwash and roll their eyes when told that there may be many ways to interpret a poem, failing to understand that it works by deep psychological association and musical elements, not just direct symbolism and statement.

    I think I’ll start following your blog now.

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    2. To even make a comment suggesting that people don’t like poetry is absurd, to even assume; and we all know what the word assume means leaves one wondering what this person is thinking if indeed he thinks at all! I am an award winning published poet and author my blog is triogee.wordpress.com and i invite eveyone to read me. I write everything, short stories, novels, satire, mystery, rap and what ever thoughts of poetry comes into my mind. Too many people today text and zone out on their electronic devices they are blind to the events and beauty that surrounds -I do not! I write and see what I write, I feel it and taste it, and touch it! Writing poetry is my live because it gives me a venue to show others the things that make the world that we live in which can be chaotic, confusing, funny and beautiful in the extreme. Let’s face it we are only here once I an aboriginal, indigenous to this land, and iI want to know why the Creator put me here I want to know why I am. My e-mail address is: greenegary19@Yahoo.com and I invite everyone and anyone to comment on these facts and to view my blog. Peace! Gary Greene -a.k.a. – J. L. Marlowe

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  19. There are many forms of poetry, some of it is only accessible to a few, some has a more broader appeal. As in an earlier comment, rap is a simple form that has broad appeal but probably not so much to a seasoned poet. I myself have a great affinity for imagery and think more people can associate on that level versus psychologically. I have spent my life trying to find a form that is accessible to more people without compromising my integrity. It has been a daunting challenge that has lead me full circle back to a more simplistic approach, and like you stated, a poem people can absorb without having to over tax their thinking. I have had many non poetic people comment that my poems actually mean something to them, so to some degree I believe I have achieved what I set out to do.

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    1. In many of my articles here, I always state that in writing we first need to be true to ourselves. In my opinion, that’s the only way to attract real audience, long-term. I believe, the same is with poetry. I write, first for my own sake: because I need something to say and I don’t delve into how many people will like it or not. But then, the actual act of sharing experience becomes a medium through which people relate to that experience. Unfortunately when it comes to poetry it takes longer time and persistence, but I’m very glad that you managed to find that middle ground – where people do find value in your poetry and you still managed to keep your integrity.

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  20. Thanks Maja for this insightful post and I’ve enjoyed reading the discussion as well. When I started writing poetry it was for me, a creative outlet and playing with words. On the occasions when I feel I’ve written something good, it’s often also associated with deep emotion or free association where I sit back and ask, “Did I write that?” At times like that I realise that my writing is informed by the sum total of who I am, my experiences, perspectives and something deep within. Not only is this a creative experience but a problem solving experience, a therapy, a journey into self.
    Thank you for your great contribution to all of us:-) Chevvy

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    1. Well Chevvy, it’s my pleasure if I can help someone else in his own writing and simply reap the benefits that I have gaining over the years. The actual act of writing poetry can do wonders for us and every day it still amazes me 🙂 Thank you for being of of my regular readers and supporters:)

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  24. About being true to ourselves, and opening up to art, I wrote a series on how my music got me back in touch with my creative side that I was suffocating…
    http://www.muscetta.com/2016/04/06/how-music-changed-my-life-part-1-falling-down/
    http://www.muscetta.com/2016/04/12/how-music-changed-my-life-part-2-recognizing-and-acknowledging-the-issue/
    http://www.muscetta.com/2016/04/21/how-music-changed-my-life-part-3-climbing-up/

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  25. Pingback: Writing poetry takes courage and a dash of craziness (and how is that good for you, as a writer) |

  26. I think poetry threatens us, like unbridled love. Our rational side doesn’t know how to deal with such raw emotions, for the fear that once this moment of joy is over, the emptiness will be killing. The reaction against such emotional swells is to raise a wall, to repel outright what can, if embraced be deeply fulfilling.

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  30. Wonderful post, thank you for writing it. It is hard to reach people with poetry these days, isn’t it? We’re too busy to feel and show empathy and curiosity, like you said.

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  32. Your post is good your poem is new droppingly good. I believe people need to know themselves to get poetry, to be emotionally and empathetically in touch with their true feelings. Poetry exposes the inner – being they have yet to face. 😇 Just my view.

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    1. Or we can use poetry to learn more about ourselves. That is one of my approaches and people are scared what they will find out. Encouraging people to read and write poetry is encouraging them to know themselves. And there is nothing more beautiful than that 🙂

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  33. Pingback: Why people don’t like poetry? – basheerabdulwahab

  35. This is so insightful, I really think it has a lot to do with the way we were first introduced to poetry. In middle school, i was taught to take a very practical approach to poetry and to memorize the devices used and to accept a strict interpretation given by our teacher, rather than letting me have the freedom to create my own interpretation.
    I feel this negatively impacts our opinion of poetry as an art form too.

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    1. I completely agree – I rediscovered my love for poetry in late thirties – partly due to not so good educational approach in school. That’s why I here in Business in Rhyme really try to encourage people to read and write poetry, as it goes beyond emotions and words. It benefits your creativity, your communication skills…benefits are numerous.

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  37. Pingback: ¿Por qué la gente no le gusta la poesía? – apserranoblog

  38. i have to disagree about the statement above… analyzing poetry getting you nowhere. I find when I understand the root and history behind certain words and phrases poetry moves me even deeper into that journey. I love poetry, but I believe it isn’t for everyone or rather that not every poem suits every person. I do believe our fast paced world distracts us from taking time to discover more of it, but even with all the time in the world there will be those that just don’t care for it. It isn’t their cup of tea and that’s okay because there are still other forms of literature or other arts and creative outlets they can dive into.

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    1. I do believe that poetry offers so many realities as there are people reading it. So one truth in poetry/poem for me, might not be true to you – if you understand what I’m saying. But personal benefits of poetry (as this whole blog is only devoted to that) are endless. And with like any art form – some will like it, some not – I do agree. Thank you for taking time to participate in conversation – much appreciated,

      Maja

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  39. Pingback: Why people don’t like poetry? — | EEIXAE

  40. As a poetess myself, I say that poetry is the most beautiful creative form man has been bestowed with, It is the very foundation for song writing. I think people who are able to write or interpret poetry have some very critical and deep minds, and are able to discuss and break down a number of life’s topics. Long live the poets and poetry fans!

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  41. Pingback: Why people don’t like poetry? – Here I Am

    1. I agree that there are many flavors in poetry. I like surrealism for example. But the most important thing is for people to realize the value behind reading and writing poetry – in what ever form they like. They would still reap the benefits 🙂

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  43. People want literature to have a purpose and a clear vision. Poetry gives you more essence and ambiguity, something that unsettles some folks and for many people who just don’t have patience. Poetry demands patience to reflect and enjoy.

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  45. people who don’t like poetry don’t like it because it makes them feel as if they should be intellectually sophisticated to tackle it when in fact they must be emotionally sophisticated; which is perhaps a more difficult problem to solve as it isn’t the emotion of love or hate or anything we can give a well rendered term & study until we have it.
    i used to be an impossible person to reason with on this subject: that it has so much to offer, it can show us what nothing else can show; so why don’t the people around me want to share this apotheosis of thought with me. i don’t think it is for everyone, just as business or any other subject is for everyone. it takes patience, it takes perception, it takes a sensitivity to the affect of rhythm & the form of words in the right order to affect us physically. it is like people who are unaffected by Mahler’s 2nd symphony, or even better, his 8th, the thousand voices, i had a friend with a very sophisticated taste in music, but never enjoyed the 8th, which would leave me an emotional wreck. the same friend, though an artist wasn’t emotionally dragged by such lines as ‘The long moan of a dance is in the sky / Dance, Maquokeeta: Pocahontas grieves.’ i have read these lines hundreds of times & they still impress me with a physical sensation.
    people need to discover something personally, at the right moment to be dissuaded from their preconceived notions of something. then they feel they own the thing they found, rather than had it forced upon them by people who tell them it is good.

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    1. I couldn’t agree more with your words. Poetry is very personal as it is interpretation of any poem or other art form. But I do believe that in poetry each person can find some value for themselves. And I like to encourage them to read and write as much as they can. In that sense, there are no any bad poems or poets. As long as they enjoy the process.
      Thank you for your very insightful comment 🙂

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      1. i think your idealism is commendable, but there are certainly good & bad poems & poets otherwise we would have no way of gauging quality that is publishable & that can do fulfill the task of inspiration & compelling the sense to the sorts of levels i outline in my comment. i thorough;y respect idealized criteria, but as i learn more i realise the abundance of positions in anyone topic or subject that can all contradict each other, with a claim to tested answers, simply makes any position difficult to accept. look at the climate debate. on both sides of the argument there are intelligent men of science with proven results that are contrary to one another.

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      2. I completely understand your point of view. My post was more of general question and an attempt to explore something I was encountering all over again – people telling me poetry is stupid, difficult and ext. I don’t claim to have any answers, just some suggestions. And like in any art form, there is a difference in quality. But the purpose of my post and my whole blog is to demystify some general assumptions about poetry and offer people to see the benefits that reading/writing poetry can have. Some will find value in it, some not. I completely agree. Poetry helped me immensely in my personal struggles and I’m merely sharing my experience. And when it comes to climate change, prior to my PhD in Organizational studies, I got a master degree in Geophysics and worked on the solar-terrestrial physics projects about anthropocentric vs. natural sources of climate change. I know what you are saying and everyone is right to some degree. But keep in mind that science is also a language that we are still learning and we don’t know everything. We still can’t assume how much will environmental pollution we produce will contribute to already established patterns of natural cycles in climate change. We don’t have the tools to predict everything.

        Thanks for taking time to read my post. Much appreciated 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      3. i hope it doesn’t seem like i have attacked your point. my point exactly is that an exercise such as that is the very reason for my point: that no point has any substance or that all points have equal substance in a world of democratized opining.
        i have no right to encroach on someone’s opinion, so i apologize if you felt on the back foot. in addition thanks for your past interest in my blog. i think you have followed some of my post in the past, if i am correct.

        Liked by 2 people

  46. Pingback: Why people don’t like poetry? – My French World

  47. A very interesting post (so glad it popped up in discover), especially for someone who has confessed many times that ‘I don’t get poetry’ or worse, ‘it’s so pretentious’. I have tried to understand/enjoy poetry and maybe this is where I’m going wrong is trying and having the intent to understand and enjoy the wrong way to approach poetry?
    I found your comment on our increasing need to think rationally, logically, efficiently really interesting. Do you think that this lack of time for poems stems from the enlightenment era exacerbated by the instant technology we have now? and if it is what would be your suggestion for getting back to a time where poetry could be better appreciated , surely as time goes on, technology develops, generations flourish this dismissal of poetry will just continue ….

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    1. I’ll share my experience and maybe it will help you. I used to work as a University Professor for many years. I was involved in science projects and it was pretty much hectic. I didn’t have time nor will to read any poems or prose…I was so trapped in my scientific books that the notion of reading in my spare time made me sick. That’s how tired of books and writing I was. But once I started to meditate, to clear my schedule, take a minimalistic approach to life, I somehow felt a need for poetry. I loved and I used to write poetry in high school. But with graduate studies and later academic career, I simply forgot about it. It’s like my passion got rediscovered once I ‘unplugged’ myself. Sounds strange but it’s true. Poetry helped me so much and this is how Business in Rhyme is born: I explore and write how poetry can be beneficial to our lives. So I would suggest that making space for poetry and writing can be a good start in finding a way to appreciate it more. I hope this helps you somehow 🙂 And thanks for reading the post 🙂

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  48. Think a lot of people are put off by poetry early in school. Poems are assignments to be diagramed and the symbolism to be interpreted in the form of papers and tests, and depending on your teacher it was really stressful. In college/university so many people came to me about that Robert Frost poem about the horse stopping in the woods. And I have nothing against Robert Frost and I think if those folks were allowed to discover him on their own, and not have to dissect this famous poem — the world would be a better place. At my book club where we swap and trade books, the left over books no one wants are usually poetry and I always take them and discover great work. Actually instead of holiday cards, etc. — three times a year — I send out a poem via email to friends/family for fall, winter holiday and spring. And if I don’t send it — then people are like: where is our poem? To note, not every loves my selections, the most popular to date has been e.e. cummings poem!

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