Why do so many people hate poetry?

As a writer of poetry (among other things), there is a question I frequently ask myself. Is it dead? Or has it just moved on? As adults, very few of us seem to be aware of or care about it any more. That isn’t to say there aren’t communities, websites and magazines dedicated to poems. There are and my understanding is that they are doing OK. As a published poet and a current entrant to more than one competition; I know this. However, day-to-day most adults you speak to in your general sphere (with some occasional exceptions) will say to not like or at least not have read poetry in years. Many will cite school as the last time. At least this is my experience. Why do so many people hate poetry though?

Poems are Outdated

Of course, any writer, critic or fan will tell you otherwise but it is easy to see poetry as outdated or antiquated if you look at it through the lens of Edgar Allen Poe, William Shakespeare or Thomas Hardy. Naturally, many would do too.

For most of us, we identify our first foray into poetry as analytical observations of people long since passed. Different cultures. Ideals and ways of speaking.

Essentially, school makes poetry unrelatable and young minds begin to see it as insignificant.

Poetry is For Elitist Snobs

With the poetry many are familiar with having ties to old worlds, archaic language and historic ideals. It can feel like an academic’s pursuit to some. They image scholars or the privately educated being drawn to it and scoffing at others’ misinterpretations.

Poems Are Too Technical and Boring

School strikes again. Rather than appreciating how they make us feel or what the underlying messages are vs modern and personal interpretations; a large focus of high school poetry (and beyond) is analysis. Rhyming couplets, stanzas, metre and such.

Knowing and understanding the craft is useful to know if you intend to write poetry (to a degree) in a particular format. For reading it only takes the fun out of it. It is similar to how music theory does not appeal or apply to everyone who might enjoy music.

What It All Comes Down To…

School is the problem. At least it was for several generations. I don’t know if this is handled better now or not. Even if you enjoyed poetry as a high schooler, it was presented and pushed in a way that many would he unable to connect with. A minority of sorts manage to regardless but they are that; a minority. Which is extremely sad.

As younger kids, we love poems. Our books are full of them. Rhymes, stories told in imaginative grammatical structure and all we find them educational but fun and engaging. However, as we grow we, were pushed into something more clinical and told to dissect it (under its rules). Even told we were wrong if not correctly observing the author’s intent.

What it became for most was a technical obituary of the writer’s history, rather than an exploration of how to use words to arouse emotions within. So, of course people’s tastes were soured with such a poor presentation and other options available to them. It is fortunate that some of us do manage to penetrate this barrier and see the potential though, despite this.