Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Development Of Good Poets In New Mexico

By Ina Hunt


Poetry has always been seriously taken in New Mexico despite the absence of a poet laureate for all this time. A lot of effort has been invested in making poets in New Mexico. The most notable efforts are those by poetry loud; an association of schools, and the Poetry Society of New Mexico. The former organizes poem reciting competitions students. The other one is an organization that is charged with nurturing young talents in the field of poetry.

The poetry society of this region was formed by Alice Briley in the late 60s and has done a good job ever since. This institution is a strong supporter of cultural welfare. It strongly stands by this value. It engages in educational and literary activities, and nothing else out of this bracket. Due to its commitment to being no-partisan, it does not support any religious, political or social view points. Its members are, therefore, banned from participating in political, social and religious campaigns on behalf of the group.

This society has given birth to several poets. These poets include; Joe Shaffer, Jim Applegate, Ann Applegarth, Lynn Baldwin and Jeanette Oestermeyer, among several other established poets. This association has been operational since it was founded in the 60s. In recent days, there has been established a formidable coordination between this group and the Eastern University of this state. The collaboration has fostered the organization of student contests. These contests receive many participants and fans.

The group developed the RGV chapter which has for all this time encouraged upcoming poets. It formed a strong partnership with the New Mexican University. The students reaped the benefits through lectures and advice on poetry. The university began imparting this knowledge into students admitted in poetry classes. This friendship bred scholarships for needy students at the state poetry society.

The poetry loud organization, on the other hand, organizes student competitions for poetic recitations. Later, they arrange for state and national prizes. This is not limited only to this region, it operates throughout the country. Among the prizes are two hundred dollars for first-place winners, five hundred dollars for their school libraries, a hundred dollars for runners-up and two hundred dollars for their schools. All expenses during the trip are also paid for the winner. National competitions have bigger prizes for competitors. A number of good poets have emerged from these competitions.

Among the most influential poets are Dana Levin, Pata Mora and D. H Lawrence who migrated from Britain. Their poems were well received by their readers in this state and the other parts of the world. These are among the first professional poets in this state.

These poets wrote about several issues as determined by happenings at the time. They addressed the troubles that came with industrialization, love, political revolutions and civilization among others as dictated by happenings at that time. They got a lot of recognition from all over the world.

Their writing styles also varied depending on the literary movements at every point in times. They used symbolism, realism, romanticism and naturalism in their works depending on the movement that was popular at the time. These different literary epochs came with their different styles.




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