"How I Discovered Poetry" vs. "Ars Poetica"
             In Marilyn Nelson's "How I Discovered Poetry", the poem takes you back to the
             Mid twentieth century where discrimination and racism were prominent, yet at the same time students were beginning to discover poetry. It is during this time that Archibald MacLeish wrote a political treatise on the elements of poetry or in other words "The Art of Poetry" to justify an illustration of poetry in "Ars Poetica". The authors' Marilyn Nelson and Archibald MacLeish have the same central purpose in mind, and that is to convey a vivid idea or attitude on poetry. These two authors introduced a theme, the power of poetry, which was a huge influence in the way poetry is portrayed throughout the world today.
             Archibald MacLeish's element of poetry tells us what poetry should really be; "A
             poem should not mean, but be". This particular phrase describes in entirety, the different views that we can analyze poetry. A poem does not necessarily need to have a meaning. They can be anything that you want it to be, it's all in the way you view it and your perspective of it. Just because some people view a particular poetry as having a centralized meaning, does not mean you have to view it the same way they do. According to MacLeish, poetry is poetry. This idea MacLeish emphasizes makes me more appreciative of poetry and everything about it. "How I Discovered Poetry" tells us how racism in those days was such a big issue. A lot of the areas of society were dominated by white people. In the line "The next day she gave me a poem she'd chosen especially for me to read to the all except for me white class", Marilyn Nelson vividly shows an example of discriminating between the races. The student was the only non-white in an all white class. Though the poem does not give much detail on Mrs. Purdy, I'm assuming she is
             ...