I certainly hope you are right. I suppose I was basing a lot of my rant/speech on the types of people I see wandering around in my city and the ammount of emphasis on celebrity gossip magazines here in England. It seems people are more interested in that type of thing here. Obviously there are the intelligent, creative sorts about, they just aren't as respected as I feel they should be. I'm just being selfish really!

I agree with you that there is more access but that also can provide people with too much choice and some greats may never be discovered. However that's been the case all throughout history. I mean I have the honour of knowing one of the greatest singers around today but he isn't famous in the slightest. This all brings in the matter of opinon, what I consider 'great' may be what the next person considers as 'terrible'.

Haha I wouldn't be able to give you mathematical formula even if I tried, nor would I want to! I like to think it is definately still alive and out there. I just feel that it is not appreicated as widely as it used to be.

Poetry is an art form and a very old one at that. Since people developed language and started writing words down, certain people have writen in verse. It is a talent. Just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page before I continue...
I am not exactly a poetry know it all but I have experience reading, researching and writing poetry. I tend to stick within english, french and the classics (Roman, Greek, Norse etc). I by no means am extremely educated within the area but I feel I know enough to say what I am about to say.
Is poetry dead? Is it dying? In the past poetry was used to document deep expression, express romance, conjur images of heavenly realms within the minds of the readers, praise heroes of the past and tell stories of myth and legend. I remember looking forward to studying English Literature when I did my GCSE course in it. In England a GCSE is a course you study between the ages of 14 and 16 in order to successfully complete school, I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence but just wanted to make sure people knew what I was talking about. So yes, I was looking forward to studying poetry in English Literature. Unfortunately the modern poets were rubbish. Dull, lifeless, stereotypical, they said nothing to me about life and any images they conjured in my mind were of upper-middle class people sitting at a kitchen table thinking "ummmm what shall I write about? I know I'll look around the room and pick any old inanimate object. Right here it goes: I am on the ceiling, oo what a feeling. I look down from above, I feel like a dove,....I am a light bulb". I'd like to think that poem does not exist but most of the ones we studied were along those lines!
So, is the dramatic, dreamer, intelligent poet still out there and if so does/will mass society care?
I thought about this for a while and thought that maybe the strict rules of the British Victorian era ruined poetry en masse. Children were taught to conform from an extremely young age. Of course the arts were taught but the people were going through the industrial revolution and in many cases extremely poor, they had to work pretty much non stp. No time for creation. Of course the Victorian era did churn out some famous writers, Charles Dickens for one although he wrote novels and there is Oscar Wilde. Now he did write poetry and it was like poetry of the past, dreamlike, intelligent, thoughtful. But he was prosecuted for his lifestyle and essentially banished from England. Only two hundred years before that there were respected poets who were complete Rake-Hells! Sodomites, libterines, drinkers, brawlers all of them, yet their poetry is still respected and studied to this day. Byron for example and slightly less famous is some senses but equally imortant was John Wilmot. Wilmot, the 2nd Early of Rochester, regarded by many as a libertine, managed to churn out poetry which some regarded as the first works of western pornography, many attacks upon the Monarchy, politicians and mankind, yet he also wrote some very romantic poems about his feelings towards his wife, children and life in general.
Perhaps the expansion of modern media has lowered people's interest. We now have TV, radio, film, the internet etc. In all of those there are hidden gems deeply tucked away under the piles of rubbish. As is commonly known people fear change and things that they were previously unaware of. Just as a contemporary example England and much of Europe is currently suffering the aftermath of A volcanic eruption in Iceland. Now, if you read/watch the news you will know hat the volcano erupted within the first few days of March, I have heard many MANY people here in England stating that they were not even aware of the eruption until the dust cloud came over a few days ago! Ignorance is bliss until it grounds your flight it seems. Anyway i'm getting away from my point/question.
We have the 'wild' celebrity but in most cases they have done next to nothing or in some cases utterly nothing to deserve that fame. Where is their expression? Where is their talent? The poets of old were gifted and debauched.
I suppose we could blame Victorian morals, we could blame the expansion of technology and media, I mean even me writing this now will have no effect, it would be like dropping a grain of salt in Earth's vast oceans. But there are still people who write, I know this because I write and have met people like myself. There are still those who write epics, attacks, account, dreams, philosophy in verse, romance, secrets, revalations and so on. They are not admired in the way that they should be like they would have been in the past. So ask yourself this: is poetry dead? If you think 'no' then ask yourself what can be done to get your voice heard. Technology may have expanded, the media and communications technology may be frighteningly vast BUT if a five second film of a panda sneezing can become known by most of the globe then so can someone with intelligence!
From here on my rant is over (I hope), I suppose what I am after now is people's thoughts. Not necessarily about the content of what I have writen seeing as I am fully aware that it seems rushed and without clear structure, but about the questions I have asked. Agree with me, disagree with me, put forward your own theories. Thanks for reading and chat away!

Hi,
Just joined the site recently. I havn't really participated in an online community before but was interested so thought I'd give it a shot and see what it's like! I read the posts about getting yourself involved on the discussion boards and I'm sure I'll follow that advice and join in with some of the banter. Anyhoo, hello all!