A slide show for high school students and others interested in poetry.

1. Why do people read poetry?

2. “ For poems are not, as people think, simply emotions (one has emotions early enough) —they are experiences .” — Rainer Maria Rilke

3. Why do people read poetry?

4. For entertainment

5. To share in the poet’s experience

6. To slow down and think

7. Poetry can act as a mirror that we can use to look at ourselves. We come to realize that other people share our thoughts and feelings… … that others are like us.

8. Poetry is also like an airplane that can carry us to places we have never been, describing things we have never seen…

9. … allowing us to gain new insight into the hearts and minds of people who are different from us.

10. And, lastly, poetry is like food… … feeding us when we are hungry.

11. I believe the world is beautiful and that poetry , like bread , is for everyone . --Roque Dalton

12. What others reasons can you think of? Write them down in your notebook!