Poetry – Bread as Cake or Cake as Bread?

During my time abroad, one of my lectures opened with the following recount: The professor recalled how he proudly told his Dad about having earned a doctor’s degree in poetry, but his Dad responded as he usually did when the discussion revolved around his son’s chosen path, ‘When will you stop reading poetry and make something of your life?’ Most people will have read a huge amount of poems by now, but the majority of these people might regard sonnets, elegies, shape poems, ballads, haikus and the like as only some form of art – like a cake. Far less will have considered the important role poetry takes on. In contrast to the common perception, poetry plays a fundamental role in society – like bread.
To illustrate the truth of this, Philip Sidney’s ‘An Apology for Poetry’ can be taken into account. In his work of literary criticism, Sidney states that poetry, if done well, has the ability to offer morality and hence has a function in society.
Furthermore, Tony Harrison includes Cornish in his 16-lined Meredithian sonnet ‘National Trust’, and subsequently, poetry is presented as a place where different languages and dialects exist. This image is further extended in his sonnet ‘Them and [uz]’ where he presents himself once more as a poet with different dialects. By including the Yorkshire accent, Harrison encourages and inspires the reader to confront and thus have an open mind about diversity.
On top of that, the free verse poem ‘That the Science of Carthography is Limited’ by Irish poet Eavan Boland deals with the Irish Poato Famine in Connacht. The poem takes a closer look at famine roads that do not appear on any maps, hence Boland prevents that anyone might forget about them. Consequently, poetry assists in keeping history alive.
To sum up, poetry does not only present a form of art, it also has a moral responsibility, supports society to keep in mind certain aspects of history and teaches people to accept diversity. Therefore, poetry is not only cake, poetry is bread, too.