Poem Is Designed to Convey Emotions

楊春園

【Abstract】Poems are designed to convey emotions. The language of poem serves for the expression of emotions. When we judge whether a poem is a good one or not, we should firstly see if the emotion of the author is fully expressed by the language. Whats more, the language should be consistent to the theme of the poem. Over or less will both do harm to convey feelings. Poems are the unions of clear emotions and proper language.

【Key words】poems, emotions, language, properness

【中圖分類號】G64 【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】2095-3089（2014）02-0037-02

When I was in primary school, I thought poems were those whose forms were just like squares or rectangles. As I got rid of rote?鄄reciting, poems were those whose languages were really exquisite. When I strongly believed I was at least mentally mature, I was quite sure poems were the unions of tidy forms and delicate language. But now, I think I only know the appearance of poems and ignore something really important. That is the purpose of poems.

Because of this immature understanding, I find myself being restricted in appreciating some of the poems. Especially some short poems where no clear rhythm and splendid words can be found. But some of them are so much popular among people. There must be a reason for that.

The same thing happened to me when I came across the little poem written by William Carlos Williams:

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox.

And which

you were probably

saving for breakfast.

Forgive me

they are delicious.

So sweet

and so cold.

When I firstly met such a poem, I thought it was out of my appreciation. According to my standard, it was not sound and you can only find some easy words in it. No great image can be built, neither. But why this poem could be distinguished as one of the most classic poems in literature?

Following the analysis of the book which was written by Professor Li Zhimin: The Construction of Poems—Form and Image[i], I was inspired by his ideas. And I think I might have known more about how to appreciate poems.

First, poems are designed to convey emotions[ii]

As we all know, there are lots of genres in literature. We have news which is to inform people. We have academic report whose main function is transporting new ideas, which needs high accuracy. And we have advertisement. They are eager to being spread even when they are greatly exaggerated. Poems are designed to convey emotions. This might be known to a lot of people. But Ill say not everyone can understand it penetratingly. Rethink most poems that you read, a prominent character may be its succinctness. I think this is not coincidence. There was an old saying, good poems came from rush muse. So in a lot of situation, people run into something that can strike their minds, shock their soul, remind their memories, evoke their love, or simply make them happy, all these emotions may just lightning in a second then they have gone. When the author turns this kind of feeling into words, a few short lines can be a very good choice. So a lot of poems are quite short. Because this might be a direct and natural pouring of true and real feeling in a rush. On the contrary, too many words may distract the main theme. We cant say we only use length or its form to tell if it is a poem or not, or it is a good poem or not, but I believe this is a special feature which can distinguish this genre from others.

Of course, we also have long poems. But still it doesnt go against what I insist: poems are designed to convey emotions. Emotions are something that we can hardly catch, it can be short and long as well. When the feeling comes from a strong and complicated way, long passage is needed if emotions are expressed completely. But one thing will never change: the long passage serves for the expression of emotions. And if we are going to judge a poem, we should firstly see whether it conveys the emotions successfully or not. Emotions are changeable and various. We can choose different length to describe feelings only if it is in a proper way which doesnt do harm to convey emotions.

Again, Id like to go back the poem which I presented in my essay: This Is Just to Say. It seems a short story told in an early morning. After eating some plums which belongs to his friends without telling him in advance, the author felt not sorry but happy. As you can imagine, he took up a pen and wrote down these little happiness of that moment with a smiling face. This crisp and clear image was totally constructed in your mind. This simple but happy feeling can be felt in this found poetry. So this poem was indeed a good one because it fully expressed what the author wanted to express and created a happy image successfully.

Second, properness is the standard when words are chosen

As another outstanding feature, the delicacy of its language seems never be neglected. And we incline to appreciate poems by the using of its language. If the words can build up picturesque image then it must be a good poem, if it cant, it must be a bad one. This isnt always true. We have known that poems are designed for telling feelings. And feelings are various. Even for the same thing, we can have different feelings. When we fall in love, some may drench in strong romance, some prefer meticulous care, and some enjoy lasting but small happiness. The degrees of emotions always rank in different levels. Strong emotions are easily noticed but tiny chuckles are not remembered.

After feeling the ecstasy of strong love, or profound grief of losing ones country, or complex hesitation of choice, or splendid scenery of the mountains and rivers. We are used to these extreme emotions. Accordingly, their language will be spectacular because easy words fail to express them. But what we cant ignore is the regular flatness of life. When we want to tell the mildness of life, the properness of choosing words will directly affect the effect of the poem. Although seems easy but hard in practice.

This Is Just to Say is a very successful poem. It properly presented us a warm picture. In this short poem, we can find no difficulties in understanding its meaning. The author quietly told us he ate some plums of his friends and the plums were cold and sweet. And the word “delicious” is the only word to express the happiness of the author. It saves the work of guessing the authors mood. Because there is a “sorry” in the poem, we would probably mistake the authors true feeling. And the degree adverb “so” in “so sweet and so cold” also indicated that the author felt grateful and happy. The title, “just” in “This Is Just to Say” was a subtle word in this poem. It told us in advance, this poem wouldnt be long and complicate. Can you now feel the flat happiness of the author after eating some cold and sweet plums in the morning?

Conclusion

Poems are designed to convey emotions. While convey emotions, the properness of choosing words is a way to judge whether it is a good poem or not. Neither the length nor the magnificent words build the best poems, but the proper words and length that can clearly and fully express the right feelings counts. When we write or appreciate poems, we could follow these two aspects as standards.

注釋：

i 《詩學的構建：形式與意向》黎志敏著

ii 詩歌寫作的目的是抒情。——《詩學的構建：形式與意向》黎志敏著

Reference:

[1]黎志敏. 詩學的構建：形式與意向 [M]. 北京: 人民出版社, 2008.5

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Just_To_Say