Poetry About Poetry

When I read a poem, I always consider is the dramatic situation first. In Elizabeth Alexander’s poem, “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe,” I imagine my tenth grade English teacher standing in the front of the room, trying to convince my skeptical classmates and me that poetry is more than professions of love and nonsensical ramblings of eighteenth century playwrights. The phrases in parentheses (lines 14 and 17) convey the feeling of a passionate teacher lecturing about the importance of poetry. The power of this poem comes from its technical elements. With her only form being two-line stanzas, Elizabeth Alexander uses interesting poetic elements to highlight the many different impacts a poem can have on a reader.

The first stanza begins and ends with the same word, “Poetry.” Repetition of this word follows throughout the entire poem. This word is probably the most important one in the entire piece of literature. Writing a poem about poetry is a difficult task. The voice of the speaker helps convince the audience of the accessibility poetry can have. The speaker avoids extravagant language or straining metaphors. This poem can be read and understood by a class full of high school students. The speaker emphasizes the infinite places poetry can be found. In the fifth stanza, poetry is oddly described as “what you find / in the dirt in the corner” (lines 9 and 10). I take this to mean that anything in the world can inspire great poetry.

The enjambment that continues throughout the poem, such as “God, / in the details” (lines 11 and 12) keeps a reader’s attention. This is important for a poem trying to convince people to read poetry. Simply by keeping a reader’s eyes moving from one line to the next provides an example of how captivating poetry can be. Times the poet pays close attention to sound enhance the work as well. The use of alliteration in “proverbial pocketbooks” (line 8) directs attention to the image.

The final two stanzas seem to embody the idea behind this poem that poetry comes from the minds of other people and provides a way for human beings to relate to one another. The simple metaphor that poetry “is the human voice” (line 18) provides a comparison between the written word and the spoken word. The final line, “and are we not of interest to each other?” (line 19) is a simple question working to prove that our interest in one another is fuel for our interest in poetry.