My first and probably last post about poetry

I don’t generally much enjoy poetry, and I struggle to make much sense of it most of the time—which is probably why I don’t usually enjoy it in the first place. Since poetry appeals to me so little, I haven’t read much of it, so there could be some poets out there that really resonate with me that I have yet to discover. That being said, there is one poet who I’ve always appreciated: Langston Hughes. It seems almost wrong that I am mostly uninterested by the poetry of the likes of Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, and others we’ve read for class, but can appreciate the poetry of the comparatively far less famous Hughes. Well, I’ve never been one for mindlessly abiding by society’s conventions, so I suppose it’s only fitting my taste in poetry is no different.

The point of this blog post, though, is to figure out why? There must be some reason Hughes’s poetry has always appealed to me when others’ have not. After doing the readings for class, I think I might be able to pinpoint the appeal. Hughes’s poetry is simply profound. Whereas a lot of poetry tends to be more abstract, Hughes can convey profound ideas through fairly simple language and imagery. I’m a pretty literal and analytical person, so I tend to struggle to grasp abstract concepts. Hughes’s style alleviates some of that strain for me. Lines 31-36 of “Theme for English B” describe a concept many have struggled to adequately express even in long, prepared speeches—but Hughes’s description seems perfectly fitting even though it uses only one word of more than two syllables, and even that word (American) is familiar to all readers. My biggest weakness as a writer is concision, and Hughes’s poetry is as concise as poetry can be, while still conveying profound and compelling ideas. Perhaps my interest in his poetry is an acknowledgement of respect and admiration for his ability to so easily do something I struggle with.