Attitude (Poetry) :Definition And Examples

Attitude Poetry—Attitude in poetry is often related to tone and mood in poetry writing and reading. It expresses the author's emotion and feelings.

Attitude (Poetry)

Attitude in poetry is often related to tone and mood in poetry writing and reading. It expresses the author's emotions and feelings while writing the poem. It's one of those literary elements sought for in poetry, the same with themes. This is also evident in the author's intention or character actions.

Definition Of Attitude (Poetry)

What is attitude in poetry? Attitude is defined as the way someone thinks or the way he feels about something. This is defined and apparent in human behavior.

Attitude in literature however— particularly poetry, there's a bit deviation from the general definition of attitude. Attitude in poetry is defined as the way an author or character thinks or feels about the subject he  is writing on. This reflected through his tone, language, intention, mood, diction, point of view and the usage of sentence structure. This is also coupled with the way the readers perceive or interpreted the author.

There is however no strict rules to the usage of attitude poetry. It is quite subjective to the author's style of writing and the subject which can all have a defined effect on the story itself.

 This can however complicate the way a reader perceive the story compared to another reader 

Through the usage of attitude in poetry, the author is able to demonstrate pure feelings and personalities.

What the author's attitude could be in poetry.

The author attitude poetry could be critical, satirical, humourous among many others. This is all reflected around the subject and they are common  not only when writing poetry, but also while writing or reading prose.

Different Forms Of Attitude (Poetry)

The forms of attitude in poetry is already discussed above, although not specifically buttressed upon. The forms of attitude poetry are either objective attitude or subjective attitude.

Objective attitude, from the word "objective" priorities fact over feelings or emotions. This will usually consists of much longer sentences, fewer-descriptive words, standard vocabulary and the use of evidence and statistics to back up the claim on the subject. Such works are often written in third person point of view, which depict some distance between the writer and the subject.

Subjective attitude on the other hand is the opposite of Objective attitude. According to Wikitionary, the word objective means: 

"formed, as in opinions, based upon a person's feelings or intuition, not upon observation or reasoning; coming more from within the observer than from observations of the external environment.

Pertaining to subjects as opposed to objects (A subject is one who perceives or is aware; an object is the thing perceived or the thing that the subject is aware of.)"

This clearly shows priority of the author's feelings over the fact. And sees the usage of casual language, colloquialism and slangs and more description. They are more likely to be written in first person.

Why Attitude Is Used In Poetry

The idea is that, there could hardly be any piece of literary works without a form of attitude distilled in it. Poetry is not different. It is also brings close connections between the writers ND the readers. 

Example of Attitude in Poetry

This example of attitude poetry is culled from Super Summary

"Maya Angelou—Still I Rise"

This poem, in the final section of Angelou’s book, And Still I Rise, is a testament to the African American life experience and the need to rise above tragedy:

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don’t you take it awful hard

‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Words like broken, teardrops, soulful cries, cut, and kill suggest sorrow and defeat, but the final line, “But still, like air, I’ll rise” changes the poem’s whole attitude. By saying that, in spite of all the hardship, she will rise above it all, Angelou gives the poem a positive attitude built on confidence and optimism.