What Everyone Should Know About Selecting a Family Poem

What Everyone Should Know About Selecting a Family Poem

It’s unlikely that you ever sat around the dining room table or in the den with your family discussing poetry, that is unless you have an English professor for a parent which is also rather unlikely. Regardless, poetry is not a mainstream source of entertainment in today’s age and for that reason has waned considerably as a family pursuit. What better way to throw the entire family off balance than to find and share a poem with them.

Family poems Are Different

There is a difference between the kind of poem you might read on your own and the kind you would willingly share at the dinner table. Family poems are not the same breed as traditional poems. There are numerous factors to consider. First, will everyone at the table be willing to invest in a conversation about the poem? It needs to be interesting, slightly provocative but not too complicated.

Second, a family poem should be relatively tame. What child willingly listens to his parents read a poem with suggestive themes. The thought probably makes your ears burn, so why would you put your children through the same? While topics such as loss, politics or academics are interesting and get the family talking, some topics can kill conversation quicker than a misplaced insult. Be wary of how your family will react.

Family Poems Can Also Be the Expected

A family poem can also be related directly to the family itself, a topic which an entire slew of writers have written about in detail. There are poems written directly for specific family members such as Wordsworth’s “To My Sister” that focus on sharing the feelings he has for his closest family member in verse dedication.

Other poets have written at length about how a family member has affected them personally, including the Shelleys, both Mary and Percey Bysshe. A great deal more writers have written about each other as family, crafting family poems about friends that are as close as family. The early 19th century poets of Byron, Shelley, and Keats were all very close friends in this way.

Regardless of their dedication though, a family poem from a master poet is unlike any other poem. It is the same as an especially thoughtful gift or a rarely given hug. For some of us, this might seem more impressive than for others. However, close or no, family poems are a great way to express that hidden or not so hidden love for those closest to you.

Consider Sharing Family Poems Regularly

Why not share a poem every Sunday at dinner? It’s a great way to get your family used to the concept of discussing something other than the latest episode of America’s Next Top Model and force them to be involved. Eventually, if it means not having a say in the conversation every Sunday night should they not, everyone will want to get involved.