On poetry

A few months ago, some of us foreigners up here in Iceland were debating why Icelanders are so snobby about their language. I was sticking up for Iceland's deep love of the language and used as an example how familiar everyone is, no matter how educated, with a large body of Icelandic poetry. That knowing Icelandic is not just knowing the grammar, but also knowing all the poetic ways in which the language can stretch to accommodate new meaning.

This is not the case in the United States; there are a few Robert Frost poems I suppose most of us learn, but mostly the teaching of poetry in the United States is limited to teaching Haiku. All of us have to compose Haiku at some point during school, since it is a relatively rule bound and short poetic form. But it can be quite beautiful. This morning I read a slightly unorthodoxed Haiku poem from my brother, and have decided that the U.S. school system really knows what it is doing. The poem was perfect.

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