Introduction
Poetry has been in existence for many centuries and it is believed that poems were first written and sang by Greeks. These Greeks mostly wrote love poems. The art of poetry then spread to Europe to countries like England and Britain. The impact of listening to poems and singing them is not difference and discernible. This paper looks into the differences that exist between hearing and reading or seeing it on a sheet or screen.
Listening to Poetry
Poems are sung before the audience and it depends which audience these poems are directed to. Some poems sound beautiful when they are just read. History has it that many poems are sung compared to a small number that are read. Nevertheless the reading of a poem may also be beautiful depending who is singing it. This is the point when communication techniques come in. communication is complete when there is a sender and a receiver. However, there is a medium of communication. All these objects of sender, receiver and the medium make the art of reading a poem to be preferred by some audience to singing or listening. Some people admire poems that are read aloud and a mixture of communication styles. The tone of the voice and body language like gestures and grimaces all make the poems sound good. Moreover poems are used to tell a story, narrate various events and even express feelings. This is the reason why we have love poems, war poems, poems depicting heroes and many other types of poems.
In the case of the poem “London” when read, has a different impact and even the meaning changes like when reading aloud like when it was read by Jon. There were features that enticed me as the audience while keenly listening which forced me to repeatedly listen to him again and again. When reading on the sheet of paper or the computer screen, it makes a big difference. It makes it obvious that poetry differs in visual from prose. The tone of the voice and the gestures means that poetry is more by how it is communicated to the audience no matter what audience that what message it communicates and this is why there is sensitivity on how the poem is communicated and not what is communicated. There are many things that a poem relies on so that it is call a poem or it qualifies to be a poem. It mostly relies on sound and then the figurative language which the poem “London” has. Many of this requirements that a poem needs in order to be called a poem scares people that poetry is difficult and for those who juggle with these elements or aspects of sound, sight and body language like gestures enjoy poetry and they are most successful poets. Songs are written in form of poems and this is why many musicians are successful when they intermittently use all these aspects of poetry.
