Can poetry be taught? Well, some precious poets who are all about the muse or their [insert deity here]-given gifts will tell you no, it comes from the heart or some other misappropriated organ, or even that intangible and therefore (to the faithful) irrefutable soul.
Can you teach someone to play the piano? Can you teach someone to draw? Can you teach someone to dance the macarena?
Poetry is not special. It is not some unique talent that only a few chosen ones may dare to dream of using properly. Poetry is a craft, not an art.
But you can't teach someone to become another Shelley or Whitman or Dorothy Parker, because what made them great was not their poetry, but their minds. Poetry was just the tool they used to connect their thoughts with the world.
Poetry is all about tools
Can you teach someone to play the piano? Can you teach someone to draw? Can you teach someone to dance the macarena?
Poetry is not special. It is not some unique talent that only a few chosen ones may dare to dream of using properly. Poetry is a craft, not an art.
But you can't teach someone to become another Shelley or Whitman or Dorothy Parker, because what made them great was not their poetry, but their minds. Poetry was just the tool they used to connect their thoughts with the world.
Poetry is all about tools
It could be worse