Greetings, friends. It feels like yonks since I last posted on the forum. I've spent most of my time in recent weeks lurking in the comments, but didn't have anything interesting or thought-provoking to ask you... until now.
Ah, 'overrated'... my favourite buzzword on the internet. It's a term we use to release and vent those pesky opinions we've been bottling up in the back of our minds for so, so long, begging to know if anyone else out there, too, feels the same about *that* annoying song, or *that* vapid movie or novel. So, since this is the Poetry Cove, you know what my question to you is (you would also know if you spent a fraction of a millisecond reading the title of this post, of course). Ok, enough lame jokes for tonight.
So, what famous/well known poem do you not understand the hype for, and why? What poem do you find a bit obnoxious or pretentious when others find it breath-taking and riveting, or quite simply, what iconic poem do you think is just, well, not that good.
Not necessary famous nor iconic, but I am going to go with the king of mediocre poetry and quite possibly, the grandfather of instapoetry (yep, we have him to thank for that), Robert Lax.
Enough said.
Ok, kidding :P many of his poems are actually quite good, especially his series focusing on carnival life. Some of his more existential stuff is also pretty good. But then you have (a lot of) stuff like this.
Some of it, I get. I get what he's trying to say or do but it's also far too simple to call it 'good poetry' in my opinion.
The next poem I'll mention is a bit of a controversial one, 'The Hill We Climb' by Amanda Gorman.
I have to preface, it's not a bad poem. In fact I enjoyed listening to it, but I can't help but feel she could have gone for a much better poem to read at the inauguration. I wager she has many great poems, but this was probably the weaker one of the bunch. I felt like THWC was full of cliches, and nothing remarkable nor new was said, which is always disappointing to hear. But I will say, it was honest, level-headed and appropriate for the time and setting. Gorman really did provide a perfect summary of the values and expectations Americans must strive to preserve. And I do have to single out my favourite line from the poem as it is worth mentioning: 'but one thing is certain, if we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy in change, our children's birthright.' You can listen to the full poem below, if you haven't heard it already:
Curious to know your thoughts. Ball's in your court now, folks, take it away...
In my opinion, Fire and Ice is the most overrated poem I've read. It's really famous, but it really isn't that good. Frost has so many poems that are much better. I don't know what it is about Frost, but his most famous poems are not even near his best ones in my opinion, and some of them are among the most famous poems of all time. I feel bad for him, honestly. I'd take Desert Places or Wild Grapes over The Road Not Taken or Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening any day.
Awesome thread Shen! I am just reading through it now, I love the back and forths
Man, there is a lot of information to disseminate in this post. Rather than respond to everything I'll stick to just a couple of things. Then get to the poem I'd like to share that I feel is overrated.
I've never even heard the name Robert Lax until now. Then again, I find it nearly impossible to read every poet ever, but I digress. What I can gather from his poem is that most (if what you said is the gist of his work) of these artistic expressions he represents in his poetry borders on the surrealist paintings of Salvador Dali. At least that is who I would compare him to but in much simpler terms. He intentionally fabricates something to get a response from the person reading/looking at it. I mean that was the premise of surrealism in a nutshell - to elicit interpretation of dreams into a sort of nonsensical renaissance full of symbolical individualism. Though I think the generalization could be made that there isn't any further purpose outside of that. Also, keep in mind I'm not saying the Lax comes anywhere close to the genius of Dali, but the notion is interesting nonetheless.
2. While we can say that Amanda Gorman is certainly not Rosa Parks or Malcolm X, I think that we can agree the poem she shared has merit given the nature of the time from which it was performed. I will say one thing about Amanda. She seems like a good person at heart, but boy don't I wish she didn't mimic the style of Rupi Kaur as she performs. Both of them sound like robots when they read. I compare it to Will Shatner when he talks aboard the Enterprise.
Now that you've presumably watched Will Shatner's performance on risk. Give a listen to Amanda's performance of her new poem New Day's Lyric and tell me she doesn't relate.
Don't say I didn't warn you. Again, beautiful words and a nicely thematic poem, but boy is it tiring reading poetry that is filled full of cliches. I mean some originality every once in a while would be appreciated.
As for the poem I've chosen that is overrated... this may surprise you but I chose... The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. It has been used over and over again as a prime example of motivational poetry, and if you ever ask any other poet, they will more than likely say they've encountered this poem numerous times. Again, it is a great short poem, but boy this in poetry is comparable to how American radio plays Justin Beiber songs on loop.
Hi Shen
Those poems you shared border more on art than poetry IMO and whilst not very original I can appreciate their merit.
TBH I haven't read a lot of poetry so I can't really answer your question, although I could say I overate my own writing most of the time lol.