April is celebrated as National Poetry Month by the Academy of American Poets, but a form of expression as universal as poetry needn’t
be limited to nationality. Intended to be a form of appreciation of poems and poets all over the world, everyone is also encouraged to push themselves to write a poem every day for the entire month of April. This makes for a great exercise for one’s creative skills, while also helping one discover their inner poet.
As a way to mark the end of Poetry Month, Karthik (1st year, Media Science) and Prem (1st year, IT) argue for their preferred of the two most popular forms of poetry: rhymed, and freeverse respectively, in the form of an extended poem, with alternating stanzas expressing their point of view.
Poetry is surely not meant to rhyme.
But with that, it surely isn't a crime.
Who said freedom was limited to free verse?
And that writing with a rhyme was a curse?
Your creativity can come from anywhere.
It's up to you to bring it out from your head up there.
Freedom lies in the ability
To have your words flow
Unconstricted by traditional limitations
Of language and its nuances
A rhyme brings out some structure.
Ever heard of a building without architecture?
It's a fact that people believe stuff that do rhyme
So I take it that you've accepted it this time.
A building with structure
Predefined as acceptable
Leaves little leeway to the most
Intrinsic of human nature:
Imagination
A boring residential tower
To the flowing curves of the Lotus Temple
Creativity isn't just flowing of imagination.
Not just building up from the foundation.
Trying to show something new inside the old.
That's like embedding diamonds in gold
Gold and diamonds are but inanimate
Pretty to look at, but ultimately sterile
Creativity flourishes in the fertile
Ground of the unhindered
The poet simply the tender
While the fields of the mind yield
The fruit, strong of its own accord
If Poetry is the construction
Then Rhyme is paint
If it weren't for Cu inclusion
Then Gold is faint.
Rules give rise to movement
Cars in traffic move due to restraint
Following rules is a respectable sentiment
For the laws of nature allow for no complaint.
So which of the two forms do you prefer? Irrespective of choice, I think it can be agreed upon that poetry is truly a wonderful medium of expression, and one that can portray a gamut of emotions and beliefs.
