Poetry is an old form of art that dates back through cultures and ages and is widely used to express complex emotions and ideas. The ideas and feelings are meticulously presented through language, vivid description, and imagery. Poetry is dynamic and continues to evolve, helping people to express their culture, opinions, and social issues. Besides that, the following are some facts that are little-known about poetry:
1. William McGonagall’s Poetry Was Considered So Bad That He Was Banned from Performing
William McGonagall, a Scottish poet and performer, was infamous for his bad poems and is considered among the worst poets. He wrote over 200 poems, most of which are thought to be the worst in English literature.
McGonagall performed in circus shows but was eventually banned from performing as his listeners began to riot.
2. Poetry Was Once an Olympic Sport
Sports poetry was a thing in the early 20th century, the same way people competed in the 100-meter race. It was also an Olympic sport where people won medals after a vote, and the best poem with a theme of athletics was chosen.
Most of the poems in the “Pentathlon of the Muses” are nowhere to be seen now; sadly, the medals’ winners were not documented.
3. Osama Bin Laden Was a Skilled Poet
Osama bin Laden was a skilled poet who wrote and performed numerous poems. This was used to recruit new members to capture their interest and promote his extremist beliefs. Bin Laden was an entertainer with an agenda, often narrating gory and scary scenes to his audience.
He broke to people the news of their lost loved ones and mixed it with the jihadi radical theories and their war traditions. Moreover, Osama bin Laden sometimes performed at weddings and other social events.
4. There Is a Type of Poem Known Star-Gauge Poetry
This is a Chinese non-linear love poem from the 4th century, written by author Su Hui for her husband. It is a very complex 29-by-29-grid and 841-character poem that can form a reversible poem of about 3000 poems.
It is also known as a palindrome poem. Su Hui’s poem had several interpretations, ranging from the cries of a wife missing her husband to, at other times, a jealous wife longing for her husband’s affection.
5. A Poet Was Once Forced to Write a Poem with Blood
Sergey Yesenin, a Russian poet, wrote his last poem, ‘Goodbye, My Friend, Goodbye’, a day before he died. Yesenin claimed to have no access to ink, and therefore, he was forced to write the poem using his blood. According to sources, Yesenin suffered from depression and committed suicide by hanging himself. There are claims that Yesenin was murdered by OGPU soldiers, who made it look like a suicide case.
6. There Was a 16th Century Poem Version Similar to Today’s Rap Battle
Flyting is a practice where people exchange insults in poem form. Prevalent in the 16th century, the interactions were provoking, and they mostly accused each other of being cowards or perverts. The winner would be determined by the reactions of the spectators. In some places, it was a source of entertainment; in others, it was used as a prelude to a battle or war.
7. The Sylvia Plath Effect Suggests Poets Are More Prone To Mental Health Illnesses
The Sylvia Plath Effect states that poets are more prone to mental illness than other creative writers. The name comes from Sylvia Plath, a poet and writer credited with advancing the confessional poetry genre. She not only suffered from clinical depression but also died by taking her own life at the age of thirty.
Creativity is mostly associated with mental illnesses. This theory was tested with over 1600 creative writers. It was established that female writers are more likely to have a mental illness than other female artists.
8. Mattie Stepanek Is One of the Most Successful Young Poets
Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek was an American poet who published seven best-selling poetry, literature, and peace essays. He achieved all these before he was 13 when he passed away due to health complications from a rare disorder he had, dysautonomic mitochondrial myopathy. The young poet is remembered as an advocate of peace and motivated many people.
9. Hipponax Is Famous for Writing Vulgar Poems
Hipponax was a Greek poet well-known for his poems that lay on the vulgar side of language. Some authors were in awe of his wit and attacks on other people. A tale exists in which Bupalus (another artist) jokingly portrays him as ugly, but Hipponax takes it personally. He retaliated and wrote him a very savage verse that resulted in the artist hanging himself.
10. Demetri Martin Once Wrote a Palindrome Poem
Demetri Martin, the comedian, wrote a palindrome poem titled “Dammit I’m Mad” as his project for a geometry class. His poem was 223 words long and can be read backward, which is quite impressive. Demetri was a student at Yale University and wrote the poem in the spring of 1993.
11. There Is a Chinese Poem Where Every Word is Pronounced “Shī-shì shí shī shǐ”
The “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den” is a 94-character narrative poem written in Chinese. Every word in this poem is pronounced ‘shi’ when read in standard Chinese, with differing tones in each pronunciation.
This poem was written by Yuen Ren Chao, a linguist, and depicts the versatility of the Chinese language and the author’s goal of replacing Latin with Chinese.