The Peculiarity of Contemporary Love Poetry

To many traditional poetry readers everywhere, the peculiarity of contemporary love poetry often leaves them with feelings of concern and perhaps disbelief, at times.

New love poetry that has suddenly appeared on the horizon of time has the potential to confound, astound or confuse its readers, or even shock those who may or may not understand it. Readers may stand in utter amazement or be appalled and disgusted with the stark reality of what has been written or is revealed in a new poetic endeavor. They may decide not to read it at all.  

Thus, a discussion of the peculiar nature of contemporary love poetry may prove beneficial with respect to further understanding of contemporary love poetry.

The issue of peculiarity in contemporary poetry may also be addressed from several different perspectives including the use of nonsense, lack of form or structure and inappropriate verbiage as words or expressions used in contemporary love poetry.

Nonsense is and should seem like the fun aspect of contemporary love poetry although to some, it may not seem funny at all. In fact, it may be regarded as a blatant mockery and considered insulting, defamatory, ridiculous or offensive, at best. The contemporary love poet may also appear to be 'out to lunch', so to speak as his or her sanity appears to be compromised in some way.

In reality, nonsense is just that, non-sense. It is not always intended in a fun way that should make sense, but rather, it may be employed in such a way as to trigger new thoughts and feelings applicable to the current era, including some that may have been previously suppressed. It often brings about a breakthrough with new truth being brought forth or reiterated poetically, dramatically and with an undeniable potency that awakens the mind of man.

Lack of form or structure in contemporary love poetry often suggests the desire or need to break free from tradition previously locked into an historical, poetic past. It appears as something that is new and different although that may not always be the case. It may simply portray a new mask, a disguise or different approach to an old topic like the topic of love re-surfacing again.

One might suggest that the use of inappropriate verbiage, words or expressions would likely have shocked or horrified the poets of the past. Do you think that they might have written in that way too? They probably did, although critics of today may deny that reality.

Perhaps this mode of expression simply expresses more perfectly, truthfully or even exactly, what others would have stated, if they could have done so in their own eras. Those words or expressions may have not even existed in their time.

There are other issues of concern related to the peculiarity of contemporary love poetry including what may appear to be appropriate or inappropriate displays of unexpected passion, anger or violence. Has the nature of man changed? That is not likely.

All three of these issues of concern portray the intense emotional depths of thought and the feeling experienced or imagined by the contemporary poet, sometimes in a positive, constructive manner, but not always. Pain, sorrow and anguish, as well as intense feelings of loneliness of varying degrees, burst into the realm of contemporary love poetry during every era.

It is not only negativity that surfaces as being peculiar to contemporary love poetry, as expressions of highly potent, positive emotion also flow freely revealing joy, elation and even wonderment associated with the various concepts of love.

Love, by its very nature, has no boundaries within which it may be construed or contained. Thus, there are no limits to its unique modes of expression which cannot be contained either, even though they may be temporarily suppressed by the contemporary love poet of an era, or the inevitable critics of his or her work.

One of the reasons for peculiarity in the poetry of a contemporary love poet has to do with his or her personal obscurity or isolation, imposed by others on him or her, or self-imposed by the poet. One way to find a time and place to write contemporary poetry is to withdraw from others, as well as other worldly distractions.

Writing poetry is a unique, individual experience by the contemporary poet in every era, seldom realized and brought into actuality in community with others, although that may occur at times, or later on. It is in this kind of individualized, personal realm of experience that the unique and distinct peculiarity of each contemporary love poet begins to surface in his or her time and writings.

The peculiarity of contemporary love poetry also includes remarkable, indisputable clarity and intensity with respect to subjectivity, although objectivity may also be apparent on many different levels. Objective experience often triggers subjectivity in poetry.

The contemporary love poet is not unaware of his or her real world, or that of other human beings, although he or she may appear to live in his or her own world, at least for a time while he or she writes.

In reality, the sensitivity of the contemporary love poet may be so intense in nature that with respect to ongoing poetic inspiration, he or she may see an intermittent, ongoing or even a continual need to withdraw into his or her own writing shell or space, at least momentarily, in order to write effectively.

For some contemporary love poets, the world may seem to be too painful or frightening to deal with at any specific moment in time, but time itself can bring about healing and once again place everything in its proper perspective.

Effective resolution also may come about as the contemporary love poet writes on and thus, deals with his or her thoughts and feelings. He or she may write until no longer inspired to do so. When every thing necessary has been stated, there is no need to write on.

This commentary on peculiarity of contemporary love poetry has its own limitations too, as it only addresses a few of the basic reasons for being perceived as peculiar, but each argument is valid and has merit in its own right.