Our most recent ASTU were about poetry. Having studied a range of poetry over the years, I understood that poems could take many forms. Hence, I was not surprised when some of the poems we covered might not fit our presumptions of a “model” poem.

Nevertheless, from the past two weeks, I came to understand the importance of understanding the context in which literary works were created. Reading In Flanders Fields and The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner in succession brought out the contrast in mood for me. A more positive mood – a stronger sense of glorification of war and hope for justice – is present in In Flanders Fields, which was written at the beginning of the Great War. In contrast, the second poem is more down and gloomy. It was written at the end of the Second World War, and may reflect the war-weariness many might have felt after two wars.

In addition, I found the class discussion about the place of poetry in culture and politics particularly interesting. It is an angle that I had not looked from previously. When I first read the last section of Butler’s book chapter, I was confused as to why the US government found it necessary to censor the poetry of the Guantanamo Bay detainees. I knew that poems are outlets for people to express their thoughts and feelings at a personal level, but I did not consider them as threatening to some at a public level.

My biggest takeaway from class was the recognition to the extraordinary power poetry held. I learnt to tie the idea of personal expression to the public – that poetry humanizes the poet. Since the audience are given an insight into the poet’s personal thoughts and feelings, they become able to emphasise with them. In a political setting where a government desires the people’s support for its actions and agenda for the detainment of certain individuals, the public’s sympathy for the government’s “enemy” would be dangerous and a first step of the government losing legitimacy and control the people.

In previous blog posts, I had written about my realisation of the power that graphic narratives and novels held. Reflecting on the place of poetry, I think that poetry has its own unique “powers” because of its genre. Yet, this is not to say that one genre is superior to another. One “power” of poetry is that they tend to be relatively short in length. As a result, they can immediately transport the reader to another realm, and evoke within the reader a stronger feeling that would take longer to settle into in novels. Furthermore, their short length enables changeability and flexibility – poets can write “on a whim” and do not have to stay consistent to a story line. Lastly, the shorter length of poems are likely to have greater political survivability because they are easier to hide or smuggle out, and unlike novels, it does not matter as much if a chapter is lost.