“Poems are just one more way of telling stories and stories help us make sense of life.”
It has been argued that we are not Homo Sapiens (knowing man) but rather Pan Narrans (the story telling ape). Humans use stories to explain the world around them and learn from these stories. It is the unique human ability of sharing experiences not only through the spoken word but also via the written word that help us grow; we collect knowledge and have access to an incredible store of knowledge in the form of a great many media.
What makes poems special is that they are – usually – easy to remember because they have a rhythm (and most rhyme too). In a way, their structure makes poems easy to repair; if a word goes missing, there are clues as to what the missing word must probably be.
English is not the only language; the biggest problem with poetry is that it cannot usually be translated directly. In translating a poem, therefore, you must make a choice; do you place the emphasis on the direct content of the poem, do you stress the rhyming of it or do you try to preserve the rhythm? You are faced with the same problem, to an extent, when faced with poetry written in old English; the language changes, words can seem to remain the same but utterly change their meaning.
Humans use stories to explain the world around them; we see images of things we know in all sorts of patterns. A face in the leaves on a tree, a sheep in a cloud floating by. We think in images and stories; we even assume some lifeless things have a life of their own (this is called animism).
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I think, it is too short for an essay, however, the main idea is great. Keep it up!
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