College Poem Class Manifesto

So I decided to post this manifesto I wrote for my college class on poetry. It's basically my personal view of art, so if you don't agree, just say so, but respectfully.

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Art has always been seen as something only the wise, the scholarly, the genius, and the sophisticated could possibly comprehend. But that really isn't so. Poetry, like any other form of expression is an art. Some works that endure the harshness of time are examined, cut up in an autopsy to be understood. But does there have to be an underlying message in it all? Does it have to really, truly mean something? Does it really have to be so serious?

Of course, those that do take poetry, and any other art, very serious, should be applauded. They are fighting for their souls, after all. And those that fight for their souls, their art, their poems, deserve every ounce of support the world has to offer. But just because art is a passion, doesn't mean that it can't at times be fun, just fun. Why do we start painting to begin with? Why do we write stories on our own to begin with? Because we enjoy doing them.

While the passion in poems, in art, is an incredible great thing that deserves to live rather than forced to endure, one must never forget the one important reason that a person goes into something to begin with: to enjoy and have fun. Poetry, or any other form of art, painting, writing, music, etc., of such origin as simple passing of time, having of fun, nor do the arts made from the depths of artists' hearts, should not have to endure belittlement. Both should be held high and praised.

Let all artists, those with passion, and those who want to enjoy, have their freedom. Let not their works be looked down upon simply because they do not meet the criteria of the rich, the self-proclaimed sophisticated, and those believing they are more educated than others. Art of passion and complexity, and art of simple fun and enjoyment are different, but their origins are the same: from the human heart and the creative (or not so creative) mind.