Peace Poetry - Joe

For quite a while now our class has been discussing the idea of discourse communities. What are they, who composes them, how to enter them, and their subject matter. Concurrently, we have been discussing the subject of peace poetry, so it was only natural we talked about the discourse community of the peace poetry.

Generally speaking, a discourse community is any group of people engaged in some literary work. More specifically it is automatically the author and any other referenced professionals the author uses to solidify research for their work. People who read the texts are automatically a part of the community for the sole reason that they have critical analysis. As soon as they read the work they naturally have an opinion and criticism, they have become connected to the piece by learning of its contents. People who engage in critical response back towards the author and in topic analysis with each other are yet more people who belong in the community.

Metres has delved into anti-war, pro-peace poetry. He and his colleagues have established a set of appropriate poems that scream out against the idea of war and protest the very roots of violence. They bring to life the very real horrors of war, able to be publicized through the literary art form. He looked for a way to engage the world in a new community, one that promotes the right values of life and denounces all the rest. I feel as if Metres does this less for the sake of the continuance of poetry but rather for the sake of the human cause. Metres looks at the Peace Shelves as a deterrent from the natural American tendency to side with the contemporary view that war is always on the horizon. He ponders how peace could come about, how best to instill into the target American audiences how a change in nature could come about. He focuses principally on learning. We have had the experiences in history that have shown us the violence of war. We should take the experience, understand it’s what is evil, and work to make different outcomes in the future. Here, in this essay, Metres calls to his audience to involve them, reaching out to the discourse community to utilize their goal and make it one for social change.

Metres himself compiled a list of poetry he deemed effective for his purpose. Just by doing this is his discourse community is taking one more step towards his goal. He is actively taking information around him and making it known through the piece of his own. Going even further, in the coda, Metres leaves an opportunity for readers and members of the discourse community to engage themselves in poetry directed towards large corporations against the drive for precious resources in Africa. This one step Metres takes further gives the readers a chance to participate more actively in the community. Joining a community requires nothing but research and thought, but what you do after, the active participation, is what makes a difference.