On Being a Classical Poet: Guest Post by Mercy Pope

Today, I'm thrilled to welcome Mercy Pope to my blog! She's a member of the As the Frost Melts antholgoy team, and in working with her and gettting to read her poetry, I was introduced to classical forms I'd never even heard of before. Her poetry is exquisite and thoughtful, and I'm honored to have her thoughts on classical poetry on my blog today.

Classical poetry is often associated with restraint, structure, and tradition. Strict forms, careful meter, elevated diction, lofty thoughts. It might reflect the strongest, most noble emotions and experiences of humanity– love, our connection to the Divine, beauty, nature; also our sorrow, anger, and unanswered questions. It seeks to build something lasting for future generations.

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

–Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

The metaphors might be complex, but they are neatly rooted in reality, clearly understood. 

“Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire…”

–Robert Frost, Fire and Ice

The imagery is straightforward, elegant, decorous, depicting art, religion, and nature.

“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

      Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;”

–John Keats, Ode On a Grecian Urn

The poets themselves seem distant, their legendary status unachievable in a modern world that seems to have forgotten poetry. Poets used to be regarded as a vital part of the popular culture of their time–Lord Byron was regarded as a celebrity, and Robert Frost’s work resonated with Americans so deeply that he became the first inaugural poet.

But today classical poetry has largely been reduced to a unit in our school textbooks where we’re taught about haikus, enjambment, and meter, and then told that poetry has no rules and that anything can be poetry; the title of “poet” is given sparingly within academic circles, and their work rarely reaches beyond their own peers, and poetic journals suffer from little readership. Writing poetry has become equated with journaling; outside of my community of serious young writers, the people I’ve met who write poetry say that it’s merely a way to express emotions without rules, and it’s not regarded as a serious art form. When poetry is taken seriously, modern poetry is often considered superior; classical poetry is regarded as a part of the past. 

The divide between classical poetry and ourselves has become so great, it feels unlikely that it will regain its place in our culture. As part of this modern world, I can see my own place in its decline– most of the poetry I write is indeed an outpouring of emotions into free and blank verse, written to make sense of my own life. I don’t know who our great living poets are, the ones whose work is most likely to be preserved for the future and define an era in poetic history. I have little interest in making my poetry elevated, decorous, or divine. But despite all of this, I call myself a classical poet, and I give that title respectfully to the young writers I know who love classical poetry as much as I do.

Exactly what being a classical poet today looks like is difficult to define. We believe that the traditional structures still have value, and that discarding them is not necessary to say something truly meaningful. Meter and rhyme aren’t restrictive– they’re pieces to create our mosaic of words out of.  We repurpose and update the poetic forms for our changed language and ways of thought. We put the myths and stories of our culture into a new context and keep them alive, as previous generations have done for centuries. We rediscover faith for ourselves and put it into our own words, honoring the work of those who have strengthened our faith by their hymns and poems. We treat poetry as a serious pursuit and put our work out there, hoping to reach people with our passion.

I call myself a classical poet because I’m continuing its tradition and developing it for our time and ideas. I don’t always hold to the restraint and realism associated with classical poetry. I write about the surreal, the absurd, the stigmatized and the ugly. But I don’t need to discard the past in order to write about the present. The framework of classical poetry gives me a way to create calm out of the chaos and clearly understand my thoughts and words. Classical poetry is not meant to be left behind, or something to evolve past. Its structures are not irrelevant to our thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Classical poetry still has something to say, and there are still poets to say it. 

Photo credit to Mark Tinnion on Unsplash