Edward Hirsh uses the metaphor of a message in a bottle to describe poetry's relationship to its readers. The poet "crafts it, sends it out on unknown waters of time and place, and hopes that it will find readers and generate a response."
Hirsch takes the analogy further by claiming, "The reader completes the poem, in the process bringing to it his or her own past experiences."
Frost claimed that a poem "begins in delight and ends in wisdom." Frost's poems are indeed transformative. The poet's ultimate goal is expression and communication.
Frost's poems offer this gift of fresh knowledge. "Nothing Gold Can Stay" (Frost, 1995, p. 206) consists of an eight-line stanza (an octet) and written in aphoristic language. He gives us astute insights about nature, humanity, and the universe.
"Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay."
Some adolescent readers think that poetry provides them knowledge, clarity, comfort, and truth. We had a poetry slam in our middle and high school and we have witnessed how imaginative and creative they are! Poetry helps teacher develop imaginative and creative students and educators know how difficult is the task to raise these qualities into students.
Jay Parini writes, "Poets articulate thoughts and feelings in ways that clarify both; they hold a mirror of sorts up to the mind if not the world, and their poems reflect our deepest imaginings."
Jay Parini suggests that poetry finds words "that connect past to present, thereby transforming the present reality from something intolerable to something one can live with, even love."
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