Historical and Modern Poetry

Historical and Modern Poetry
by natasha angelica

Historical Poetry

A historical traditional poetry usually follows the expected flow or patterns like using the sonnets, and would follow designated meters and rhyme schemes. Poets known for following these patterns would be Shakespeare, Keats and Shelley.  It’s quite easy to get lost in a historical poem since it applied old English to write it.

However, a historical poem is perfect in both sound and appearance. It didn’t cut through straight to the point but the thoughts were gently explained and expressed. A properly written historical poem would be harder and more complicated to write since it follows the formal poetry rules. We have to make the meaning expressed through the words and make it appealing not only to the eyes but also to the ears who are listening to it.

Example :

Invictus

By William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

     Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

     For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

     I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

     My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

     Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

     Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

     How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

     I am the captain of my soul.

Modern Poetry

Modern poems veers into a new territory. Almost all of them are free verse poems with less rhymes. Also, almost all modern poetry is imagist in nature, which is the opposite of the historical poetry.

There is one important key point here. The definition you are looking for when asking about modern poetry actually lies within the word ‘modern’ itself. “Modern” poetry is used to describe recent poems, and poems written during the ‘Modernism’ era, which started from the early twenties. We realize that modern poetry is more experimental in form. The freedom within this form made the effects possible. There is of course a difference in the language used. Modern poems tend to apply an everyday conversational tone. The major difference between the historical and modern poetry is that a modern poetry plays fast and loose out of the expected formats.

Inside & Outside

By Unknown

I am great inside and outside

I wonder when will I minimize

I see cute clothes all around

I want to try and mingle in them

I am great inside and outside

I pretend to be positive

I feel tired of lying

I touch the mirror in front of me

I worry about what they will say

I cry to myself silently under my blankets

I understand the thunders in my heart in killing me

I say, “What’s so great about being great?”

I dreamt of shattered glasses and blood

I try to touch the wound under that pond of blood

It hurts, I know that

But why am I trying to touch it?

Was I this stupid all along?

I don’t know anymore

Somebody save me

I’m on the edge of a precipice and I think I’m going to jump any seconds now

Somebody save me

I’m tired of being ostracized, I’m tired of being the center of attention

But one day, out of the blue

I said, “Oh you know what? I don’t care anymore”

He didn’t create me, with all His greatness just for me to waste my life

The precious and beautiful life that He gave to me

I realized something I didn’t before

You said I was wrong and you all were right

But these words knocked on my heart’s door

What if? What if you all were wrong and I’m the one who’s right?

I know I’m not Cinderella

I never even imagined to be one

But I deserve my happy ending

And you don’t have any rights to steal it away from me

Do you even care?

Understand the struggles in our path

Do you even care?

How because of you, we were at the verge of death

People like us

Deserve to be happy

People like us

We were not meant to be in therapy

I will fight

For our rights

I will fight

Until we lost our sights

Analysis (by Natasha Angelica) :

The poem above represents the modern poetry. We can tell the differences by just reading it. The language used in the modern poetry are much easier to understand. Even though the modern poem is longer than the historical poem, it takes much less time to understand it. The topic of the poem is also relatable to younger audiences. The traditional poem talks about a dark situation which much happened in the past. While the modern poem talks about the depression of a girl, which happens a lot these days. Based on the first lines of the poem, Great inside and outside and when the author mentioned that the character saw cute clothes and wanting to mingle in them, we can conclude that the character in the poem is a girl who got a bigger size than others and great inside meant she has a nice personality. The author mentioned Cinderella, which symbolize a happy ending, but then followed by the sentence ‘I never even imagined to be one’, which meant she was at the edge of giving up. However, the author wanted to tell the audience that just being bullied can’t affect you even though bullying can destroy someone’s life. The author used some repetitions when it’s almost the end of the poem. This must show the desperation of the character inside to poem. The author hyperbole some words to make it more emphasized for example using the words ‘at the edge of a precipice’ or ‘at the verge of death’. Not only wanting to tell off the bullies, the author wanted to bring up the confidence of those victims. The author mentions a Christian value up there. Having a Christian perspective in a poem might sound ‘old’, but still looking from the overall, it’s a modern poem. Also, not all traditional poems are hard to interpret, however most of them are. Looking from the format, they are different, by eye and by ear.