Why is poetry seen as feminine?

Why is poetry seen as feminine in modern society?

In the past some of the greatest poets were warriors, and some of the greatest warriors were poets.

Patton wrote poetry, and I don't think there is a man alive brave enough to have called him feminine.

Lord Byron, one of the great poets of the 19th Century, was a hero of the Greek Revolution.

Edward Thomas, Wilfred Owens, David Jones and Robert Graves all served in the trenches of WWI.

Walt Whitman served in the Civil War.

Because men are supposed to be rough, tough, and stupid as ****, that's why.

Beats me, I love Walt Whitman, and Longfellow. Those guys are wonderful.

wilf owen poetry is some of the best i have and will ever read.

its actually a brilliant marketing strategy by women to make us believe that the good qualities that poetry writing requires are feminine.

<Insert Anne Coulter voice> Because poetry is for p****s!

Poetry is generally seen as masculine here. All NZ's most famous poets are/were males who wrote about manly stuff.

Originally Posted by Richard

Poetry is generally seen as masculine here. All NZ's most famous poets are/were males who wrote about manly stuff.

In the US poetry is seen as the domain of women, emos and hippies. Don't know why really...

The Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson must have been like, the 300 of the 19th century.

I'm reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's translation of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Done with Inferno, almost done with Purgatorio. Afterwards, just Paradiso to go through.

And every canto is just simply wonderful.

Because all our great poets died long ago. The stuff I've read from today's authors, and from the 20th century mostly suck.

Originally Posted by Thanatos

Because all our great poets died long ago. The stuff I've read from today's authors, and from the 20th century mostly suck.

I'd agree, with the lone exception of Shel Silverstein. That guy's the man. I love "The Perfect High".

Did anyone ever read The Giving Tree as a kid? Back then, I thought it was cool, but I read it again recently, man, it's still deep.

Due to male brovado and the sex drive I would guess, either way I am not too acquainted with poetry.

Originally Posted by Axeman

Due to male brovado and the sex drive I would guess, either way I am not too acquainted with poetry.

I doubt you would say that George Patton lacked bravado as did the warrior-poets of WWI...

I write poetry sometimes & i seriously dont think its 'feminine' at all. Also poetry being 'emo-ish' is nonsense. All these stereotypes dont help at all ... though i do have quite a few 'emo-ish' poems which i wrote a few years ago. Mainly my poems are romaticised and are very Wordsworth like - glorifying mother nature's role in the world

Prince

Originally Posted by IndianPrince

I write poetry sometimes & i seriously dont think its 'feminine' at all. Also poetry being 'emo-ish' is nonsense. All these stereotypes dont help at all ... though i do have quite a few 'emo-ish' poems which i wrote a few years ago. Mainly my poems are romaticised and are very Wordsworth like - glorifying mother nature's role in the world

Prince

I agree with you.

To be honest I'm not a fan of poetry, though there are some great poems that I appreciate and enjoy. However I don't get the stereotype that is attached to writing and reading poetry.

I'm actually starting to think poetry is getting... old.

I think more new and original tings can be done with super-short prose. It's a lot more open.

I doubt it's an issue of femininity or lack of bravado. America's had her fair share of male poets, after all.


It's simply a matter of education. Most American men today are not taught or even reflect upon poetry outside of boring English lectures. Thus, most are simply not good at it.


If they can't be good at it, it must not be macho. How else to explain ones shortcomings if not with denigration of it into a lesser category?

Just like cooking being seen as another feminine endeavor, yet the most renown chefs are men.

I like to cook food, and *try* to write prose.

Alas, I must content myself most of the time with reading the great works of others.

Poetry in general is not a feminine activity. Modern, informal poetry is more like it, or more precisely, it has only a dyonisian component, without the structure given by apollinean principles. As such, it is childish, more than feminine.

Speaking obviously, in terms of stereotypes.

Whitman is a good poet. So is Keats. Or Baudelaire, a crypto-classicist, in truth, seeing also as he dedicated Les Fleurs du Mal to Théophile Gautier...

Poetry is a treasure trove.

Any emotional display is seen as feminine today.

Something about the male bravado glorifies actions and diminishes words, even Aeschylus didn't mention his plays, only that he fought at Marathon on his gravestone inscription.

I'm not a huge fan of poetry but I love the epics, who doesn't appreciate Homer or Vergil?

Because people are less literate nowadays, more superficial, and incomparably dumber.