Many people clearly identify “War Poetry” when they read it. Peace poetry however is different. The topic of peace, although practically very rare in our world, is very popular among writers. Poetry has had many usages over its thousand-plus year existence, but many would agree that it has always been an art from that allows its writers therapy and the ability of self expression. Much of what poetry is, is soft and peaceful, yet there are some large collections of more harsh and raw poetry. Luckily however because poetry is such a fluent and light art form, we can read about things like war and death in a manner that is more feasible then graphic art, photography, overwhelming music, ballads, or explicit diary entries and confessionals. Poets convey both war and peace in different ways but overall both themes are very popular. Many people argue over the discrepancy between “peace poetry” and “peaceful poetry.” I see “peace poetry” as being a response to war. I experience it as something that is created to present a very real argument against the cruelties of war. On the other hand I see “peaceful poetry” as something that makes no reference to war, a style that is soft and lighthearted.
Concerning war, most of what I have read in past years has had a modern war theme, mainly talking about Vietnam, The World Wars, and The Cold War. Some of my learning included reading, “The Things They Carried,” By Tim O’Brien, “Apocalypse Now,” Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and Joseph Conrad’s Novel, “The Heart of Darkness.” Each one of these sources provided a raw look into the life of war. Each one of these examples presents a different strategy to go about presenting war. “The Things They Carried,” uses a journal/testimonial type way of depicting lives of soldiers. O’Brien examines the actual things the soldiers carried in a way that describes their situation. In “The Heart of Darkness,” Conrad takes symbolic and introspective themes and creates a vividly deep story that appeals quite heavily to one’s emotions. Apocalypse now is a movie created using the themes in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Coppala uses the book to formulate an equally powerful movie that quite graphically depicts war and insanity. These methods display war in a very raw way, and are easily in the category of “War Poetry.” War poetry engages its readers in a way that no other poetry can. It really pulls people to think with their emotions and feel every line, every gunshot.
Some of the poetry that we’re reading now is somewhat different then what I’ve experienced before, it is apart of a fairly new genre for me: “Peace Poetry.” It approaches describing war in a different way. “2000 lbs” by Brian Turner introduces new perspectives on war; he shows the view from the terrorists and innocent bystanders. This strategy really expands the perspective of war; it approaches it in a quite peaceful way. Unlike the usual soldiers perspective, it presents the views of civilians largely affected by war. His style opens our minds to new ideas and concepts in a way that isn’t overwhelming to our senses, and mainly peaceful to our short-term emotions. We also read “Monday Morning” by DJ Renegade. He does a really nice job at exemplifying how unnecessary death is. He dives into the real product of death and how irrelevant it is to the final outcome. This is a really powerful point. With war as such an everyday aspect of our lives in the 21st century, we often forget to think about these things. These two examples represent what I would call “Peace Poetry.” These poets describe war in a sense that promotes not only peace, but a look at war from a much different and more critical perspective then usually portrayed by “War Poetry.”
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