Student Work, #2: Argument with Research (Summary and Synthesis)

What Makes A “Good” Poem?

What do you think makes a good poem? I think that a good poem must have more than just rhyming and imagery. To me, a “good” poem must have multiple interpretations. In other words, there has to be more than one meaning to it. 

In recent discussions of poetry, a disagreement has been what makes a poem “good.” On one hand, in the article titled “Telling a Good Poem from a Bad One” Maddox argues that a “good” poem needs few things: it must demand exactness, underlie the thought of the poem, and it must be meaningful to another person. On the other hand, however, in the article “What Makes a Good Poem?” Pettinger argues that a “good” poem must use concise and accurate language, tells the truth, and it comes from the heart. In sum, then, what these two agree on is that poems can be meaningful or important to a person, and that it always tells the truth, but the main difference is all of the reasons why they think a poem is “good.” Though I admit that Pettinger has a point about “good poems” saying that, “poetry, good poetry comes from the heart.” I disagree with what Maddox says about words having to be in exact order. Consequently, I argue that what is essential in any poem for it to be “good” is that it must have multiple meanings. In other words, there is no right or wrong interpretation on what it is about.

 For example, “Child” by Lorna Crozier makes you feel like this is a very clumsy, crazy child, but once you really think about it, you realize that it is about a child being abused. Another example would be the poem “Shoulders” by Naomi Shihab Nye. You don’t really understand the poem until you read it again and let all of the words sink into your brain. You realize that it is talking about a man taking care of his only child. My final example is the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost. It is talking about how something good that happens to you won’t always last. In the poem, it says “her early leaf’s a flower, but only so an hour.” In my own words, it means that good luck doesn’t last forever. As you can see, all of these poems have so many different interpretations/meanings. You may have thought of different meaning than what I have said. That is why I love the beauty of poems. And to me, that is a true, good poem. There are so many poems out in this world, and I know that they all must be very nice, but only the best ones can be “good.” I hope that you have easily understood this paper on what I think makes a “good” poem.