The Petals Are Not Crying: Poetry is a Scam
I honestly won’t even exaggerate my emotions when I say this. Why does all of a sudden a simple sentence translate into a 5 page “analysis” explaining the “hidden meaning”. We’re just reading a poem that goes like: “The crimson petals weep in the dusk of yesterday’s sorrow.” And the teacher hits us with: “So clearly, this represents mankind’s endless suffering caused by the Industrial Revolution.” LIKE—WHERE?! How did we go from sad petals to the entire economy collapsing?! If the author was too lazy to write all those “hidden meanings” and decided to be stingy and just give us one sentence. Why do we do his job; analyze the purposeless hidden meanings?! Hidden meanings and themes were probably—definitely — hidden for a reason. At this point, we’re just being taken advantage of by the writers. Students are unpaid laborers who finish the poet's incomplete work in the name of “paraphrasing” and "finding themes”. Mr. William Shakespeare, I mean no hate but, were your hands cram...