( Fine & Applied art/art business) Old and modern Poetry - Essay Example

This research paper primarily looks at old and modern poetry, distinguishes between the two, traces the path poetry has taken to reach were it is today and finally identify the prominent personalities that have shaped poetry. Poetry as an art form is believed to predate literacy, from the ancient societies’ folk songs dominate and signify the presence of poetry. There is evidence of the epic poems such as the Epic of Gilgamesh from the third millennium BC. This was written on cuneiform script on a clay tablet and later on papyrus.

The other ancient epic poetry includes the Indian epics, the Old Iranian books, roman national epics and the Greek epics.The ancient poets developed aesthetics, which they used to determine what makes poetry distinct from other forms of writing and distinguish well from bad poetry (Ferris, 1957, p46). Poetry was traditionally sung or orally recited and always focused on the happenings within a particular culture. In the 20th century and the development of writing, it has developed increasingly structured forms and moved away from the traditional forms free and diverse formats.

Traditionally poetry was used as a way of remembering oral history, telling stories or keeping in touch with the law, poetry was also mostly found within the musical traditions of any culture such as religion. Most poetry was used to record cultural information, the past of the people, the prayers, history about the politics and wars they had taken part in, more importantly the myths and legends of the people were recorded in a poetic nature (Hales, 1994, p79). Poetic pieces such as the Vedas (1700-1200BC) and the odyssey (800-675BC) are the earliest discovered forms.

They were composed mainly to aid memorization and oral transmission within the cultures. Examples of earliest written poems include the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, Epic of Gilgamesh,