Soul Expression

First day of class and being told that this entire course will consist of writing a blog, was far from what I expected in an Expository Writing class. Thoughts ran through my head on whether I should drop this class or not. When the teacher began the usual scare tactics to freak students out and stated the drop rate for this class, my decision was made, I would stick with it. Although I knew this class would take alot of work, I love a challenge and I didnt want to give my teacher the satisfaction of having less work to grade.

Within this blog I will write my opinion on Def poetry. Def poetry is a show that was founded by Russell Simmons and premiered on HBO. The series presented performances by established spoken word poets as well as upcoming poets. Each week I will view performances by different poets and commenting on critics left by people on YouTube. I will use the insight of our recent Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky, through his book “The Sounds of Poetry.” This book will be used as a guide to analyze if Def Poetry fits in Pinsky’s criteria as “poetry.” Exhibiting my point of views either agreeing or disagreeing with the content within “The Sounds of Poetry,” which will portray the aspects of They Say, I Say.

When it comes to the format of this blog, I would like to begin with giving the meaning of poetry and use Pinsky’s book to determine what characterizes something as poetry. Throughout the following weeks, I will introduce a poem that premiered on the Def Poetry Show, constitute my interpretation of the poem, use key points to identify if it is considered a poem with the ideas of Pinsky, bring forth the criticism from other people about the poem, and release my verdict on whether I liked the poem or not and why.

During the course of this assignment, I will be watching different performances from the show Def Poetry and analyzing how each poet performs their piece of art and portray that within my criticism. Since poetry is meant to be heard, hearing it and watching it expressed from the poet themselves is the best way to criticize. I would receive a better understanding by watching it being performed than just reading the verses on a piece of paper. Unfortunately, there are little to no blogs or criticism on Def poetry, unless it’s from websites such as YouTube, where subscribers write their opinions beneath each video that contains a poet reciting their poem.

From what I have read, there are many people that find controversy within the Def Poetry realm. Some believe Def poetry isn’t poetry at all, because the concept of Def poetry is to depict the Hip Hop’s theme, using rhythm and a beat through the spoken word. My blog will try to explain what makes Def Poetry considered “poetry.” By researching and analyzing the dimensions of what many people of society consider poetry, and collate that information I find to reveal that Def poetry is in fact “poetry” disguised in a different form. During the last week, I will prepare two types of poetry of my own, one being Def Poetry, and the other being what people consider to be poetry. At the end I will try and illustrate to people that either way that the words are produced or organized, the way a person expresses their feelings, emotions, thoughts, etc., it will always be considered “poetry,” because, those are the only things that creates a poem.

Since I have yet to find many blogs about Def poetry, this will be an opportunity to expand the horizons of the many people that haven’t heard of Def Poetry or just don’t consider it to be poetry at all.