“Poetry is adolescence fermented, and thus preserved.”
~ Jose Ortega y Gasset
Corny. Sappy. Immature. Clichéd. These are just a few of the words that adults often use to describe teenage poetry. The literary community almost never takes the work of young poets seriously. According to an article on the website Writers’ Relief, for instance, “Many poets would rather eat paint chips than share their teen-angst poetry with the world. Teenage poetry is often raw, drippy, sloppy, histrionic, self-centered, and overdone.”
But at the same time, many poets of all ages see youth as the prime of one’s creative life and like to write about youthful themes as poetic content. According to author Stephen Burt, poetry is often equated with adolescence because “if innerness, selfhood, privacy, and individuality are now the province of adolescence, they are also the province of the lyric poem.” Shakespeare himself wrote many sonnets honoring the youthful beauty of his beloved, “that fresh blood which youngly thou bestowest.” In one sonnet, he writes, “My love shall in my verse ever live young.” What's going on here? Why does everyone seem to want poetry ABOUT teenagers but not poetry BY teenagers?
I hypothesize that nostalgic adults, including poets, have developed an idealized image of adolescence: a time of unbridled freedom, marred only by trivial concerns and mood swings. But we teenagers know better. We know that adolescence is a complex experience filled with real emotions and real concerns. Through our poetry, we have the power to express these emotions and concerns to the world. And at the same time, writing poetry can provide an personal outlet for our feelings, teach us about ourselves, and helping us forge our identities.
Certainly, there exist inexperienced teenage poets, just as there are inexperienced adult poets. But there also some very skilled teenage poets, and all of us can improve our writing with practice. To become a better writer, we basically have to READ lots of poetry, WRITE lots of poetry, and REVISE our poetry. I hope that this blog will encourage teens to do all three of these things.
Incidentally, that first one on the list seems to be particularly problematic for a lot of young writers. In an survey I took of fifteen young poets, I asked “Do you read poetry? If so, what poets or genres?” Ten out of fifteen admitted to not reading poetry much, although many were able to name some favorite poets anyway. Imagine if song composers barely ever listened to music! If we want adults to listen to our poetry, we need to pull our share by paying attention to the poetry that is already out there.
The Teenage Poets blog can inspire us all to be better readers and writers of poetry. At the same time, it provides teenage poets with a community through which their voices can be heard. What are you waiting for? Submit a poem today!