What is poetry?

What is poetry? For me, it is a kind of device that allows your voice to be heard by the public. Not only is it a way to express your emotions, such as love, passion, anger, but also send messages on specific issues. What's fascinating is that one piece of poetry can have numerous perceptions and opinions, depending on who's reading it. Poetry can be both something that gives hope and something that creates a social phenomenon.

“…Poetry is looking down both roads that diverge in a narrow wood...”

When you are reading or analyzing a poem, it is like you are walking in a "narrow wood." You don't know where you are going and what's waiting for you. Then you come across "roads that diverge in a narrow wood." The quote suggests that you should look "down both roads" in order to get enough information of the surrounding. You might find something you wouldn't have found if you went one way. We need to observe a poem from different angles in order to get as many ideas and information as possible.

“...Poetry is eternal graffiti in the heart of everyone...”

When you draw graffiti on a wall, you draw or write whatever comes to your mind or anything that's building up in you. It is same in poetry. On paper, you just let your emotions and thoughts run wild on it. It does not have to be beautiful or perfect. Poetry is a everlasting graffiti in our "heart" where we can spray, or express, ourselves however we want to.

“...Poetry is the last refuge of humanity in dark times...”

Poetry can be a last resort for people who are suffering or even dying in a harsh situation. By writing a poem on hope and/or peace, it can encourage the writer or others to be stronger and believe in a brighter future at "dark times." It is the "last refuge of humanity" where people can show their true human nature and express whatever they want to scream out from bottom of their heart.