Poems Will Be The Death Of Me.

         There will forever be one thing I despise in English class. Although I've come to understand and begin to like grammar and writing again, I hate poems. If it is not a haiku, an acrostic, or one that rhymes, I will not like it. One universal rule of poems should be that they must rhyme, otherwise it's just a paragraph written in a terrible and foolish format.
          In fact today in my Honors English class we are reading William Cullen Bryant's poem, Thanatopsis. When translated into Greek the title means " a view of death". Coming from the words Thanatos: death and opsis: view or sight. I read it through and didn't understand any bit of it. First of all since the poem comes from the early 1800s I can't comprehend any of their almost "ancient" language.  Also it doesn't help that it starts of not stating what or who the subject it or what why they are talking about death. I just read it through. Going in one part of my mind and out the other. Not knowing anything about the story. I don't get what is happening and I don't think I ever will.
          If there was anyone in the world who believed that iambic pentamitor would help, they are wrong, to me it is completely useless. If I'm going to read something I'm going to read it as I want and like not follow a certain pattern so it should sound nice. It's just too complex. Poems should be simple, easy to read, and rhyme. If it doesn't have these characteristics it is not allowed to be a poem because it is too confusing and misleading. I know this will never be the actual guidelines for poems, but if I were to choose them that's what they'd need.
          All these people in my class are coming up with amazing inferences and accusation about Thanatopsis while I'm sitting here only knowing the obvious answer. The story is about death.  I guess my mind just needs a more simple approach when referring to things. Therefore from now on I think I will stick to my trusty Dr. Seuss when it comes to reading poems.

if you would like to read the awful poem I talked about: William Cullen Bryant "Thanatopsis"