Creative Writing Assessment About Poetry

Introduction

Poetry is a compact language that expresses complex feelings. To critically analyze and understand the poem, readers must examine the literary devices, themes, and ideas in the poem. Therefore, this paper answers the question of which is the most and least successful poem between “Aris Artis” and “Forsaken Library.” “Ars Artis” is a poem full of literary devices, themes, and several ideas of art. “Forsaken Library” is a very straightforward poem that describes the state of an abandoned library; thus, the author portrays loneliness and sorrowful sentiment throughout his poem. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze “Aris Artis” and “Forsaken Library” poems.

Critical Analysis Of “Aris Artis”

“Aris Artis” is a lyric poem of fourteen lines. The poem describes the qualities that artwork should have if it is to be recognized as an outstanding artistic work. Therefore, critiquing this poem can be done by analyzing the poem’s theme, language, imagery, and figure of speech.

Content and Structure

The first stanza recapitulates the entire poem. The poem begins by indicating how the artwork should portray emotion and a specific message. The poem uses similes with an emphasis on how the art should be. For instance, in the first line, the author indicates that a piece of art cannot be held by hand since it is empty, like emotions. The poem continues, and it says the artwork is “like an old broken jar with million wholes.” The author uses imagery to demonstrate how it is impossible to hold a piece of art. Therefore, the first stanza illustrates how the author wants the readers to understand a piece of art.

In the second stanza, the author uses the same arrangement and flow as that of the first stanza. The author says that a piece of art should be simple and should be understood directly. The poem indicates that artwork should be like the sun, implying that a piece of art should be seen visually. The poem continues to illustrate that artwork should be “like a fire taking over the dark.” Therefore, this shows that artwork should bring joy and happy moments.

Moreover, the last stanza expresses the true emotions of a piece of art. The author states what art should entail. The poem states that the meaning of the art is “hidden behind the curtains.” This implies that artwork has hidden and deeper meanings. Therefore, at some point, we come to understand the meaning of art. Also, an artwork should reflect people’s feelings and emotions.

Theme

The main themes of “Ars Artis” poem are people’s feelings and emotions. The author says that artwork is like emotions; thus, artwork should be stunning and captivate people’s imaginations. For instance, “a piece of art is like a fire taking over the dark” showing that artwork should bring moments of happy feelings and emotions during the suffering hours. This is because fire can bring light, implying a happy moment by driving away darkness the suffering.

Figures of Speeches

Simile: the poem uses “like” in different lines in the poem. “Like” is used to compare a piece of work to a piece of art to emotion, an old broken jar and a fire. For example, the author says, “like an old broken jar with a million wholes.” Therefore, the author uses the old jar as an example or simile. The “million wholes” statement helps the reader to create a picture of the scene. Thus showing how it’s impossible to hold a piece of art that has a million holes in it “. Also, the words “a million holes” are used to bring home the literary device of metaphor.

“Forsaken Library” Critical Analysis

To critically analyze this poem, I will examine the poem’s literary devices, ideas, and themes to understand the poem’s poetry.

Lack of Deeper Meaning

Themes

The themes in the poem include abandonment and failure. These themes are straightforward and less successful. Poetry is a compact of language that describes complex feelings. Thus, the poem lacks complex feelings and compact language since it’s straightforward. Therefore, someone can understand them without much thought. This makes the poem less successful. Also, the “Forsaken Library” poem lacks a deeper meaning. For instance, the poem describes a library that is disorganized and the books are misplaced. Also, the books are scattered all over the floor. The chairs are broken, and the library is full of dust. This description literally shows a theme of abandonment and failure. Thus, the fact that the poem lacks complex feelings, deeper meaning and complex language makes the poem less successful.

Use of Literary Devices

Personification

Personification is an attribute of using non-living things to tell a story about human beings. Therefore, the poem does not employ this literary device well. Thus, by using this literary device, the library users should not physically be present since the readers can perceive library users through the objects in the library. The lack of proper use of literary devices in a poem makes it less successful. A poetry work should be rich in the use of literary devices, sounds and rhythms; hence, this poem lacks the mentioned tools.

Imagery

The literary device of imagery is overused in the poem. The library description helps the readers to create their pictures and images of the conditions of the library. This poem uses this literary device throughout. For instance, “books thrown on the floor” this line helps the readers to create a picture of a library full of books lying on the floor.

Conclusion

“Ars Artis” is a poem that is full of literary devices that are used to demonstrate what an effective piece of art should entail. The author uses the poem to convey his feelings about the poetry. “Forsaken Library” can be a poem that lacks literary devices, themes, and main ideas. Thus, I used the plot, literary devices, and theme of the poem to critically analyze the “Ars Artis” while I used the themes and literary devices to conduct an analysis of the “Forsaken Library.” Therefore, based on the poem analyses, I choose the “Ars Artis” poem to be the most successful poem between the two. The “Ars Artis” poem is the most successful poem since it has a deeper meaning, themes, and ideas. Also, the poem demonstrates the use of imagery and literary devices, and its content is well-structured. Whereas “Forsaken Library” is the least successful poem since it lacks well-structured content and literary devices.

Works Cited

Kooser, Ted. The poetry home repair manual: Practical advice for beginning poets. U of Nebraska Press, 2007.