Ethnic poems about grieving can offer real comfort to those who have experienced a loss. Whether you are looking for poetry specific to your particular ethnicity or if you are simply trying to find an appropriate piece to share in remembrance, get tips on where to find suitable poems to express your emotions.
Poetry for Grieving
Utilizing poetry as a means to express grief is a tradition that has existed since ancient times. Famous poets, including John Donne, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, have all broached the subject of mourning and grief within their works, and the topic remains prevalent within modern poetry.
Finding Ethnic Poems Related to Grieving
Local bookstores and libraries have an abundance of offerings for poetry from certain ethnicities, and it isn't difficult to find poetry books pertaining to grief. There is also a wealth of resources online to find ethnic poems related to grieving. Here is a brief listing of some of the best online resources to find suitable prose for you to share at a memorial or to instead simply provide you comfort during a period of grieving:
- Poem Hunter is a fantastic Web site that allows visitors to search for poems from the vast database. It's simple to search for poems related to grief and then further whittle the search down to certain ethnicities.
- Voices Net features a comprehensive database of poetry related to death and grief. The country of origin of the poets are posted alongside their names allowing visitors to pick and choose a particular nationality when looking for poems.
- Famous Poets and Poems allows website visitors to search certain ethnicities for poems pertaining to grief and other topics. The database featuring African American poets is particularly impressive.
The trick when using these sites is to find poems related to grieving and then further specify the search with a certain ethnicity. Not every poetry website will distinguish one ethnicity from another, however, so a little perseverance in research may be necessary.
Presenting a Poem
If your intention is to present a poem at a memorial service or funeral, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:
- Ethnic-specific poetry is suitable if the underlying meaning is relevant. In other words, if the poem is decidedly ethnic but lacks depth or true meaning then it will be meaningless. Choose poetry that has relevance to the person you are memorializing.
- Make sure you personally understand the poem. For example, if you are presenting the poem at a memorial service for a friend of a different ethnicity than your own you should not arbitrarily pick a poem simply because of the poet's ethnic roots. A poem may be dripping with ethnic connotations that you don't personally understand but may highly offend some people in attendance.
- Pick a poem that features words you can pronounce. You may think it is special for you to present an ethnic poem at a friend's funeral but if the poem is in another language or features words you don't understand, you are not only risking presenting it incorrectly but the poem may also not mean what you actually think it means.
The best thing is to pick an ethnic poem which you understand and which would have been special to the person you are memorializing.
Poems About Grief
Grieving individuals oftentimes find solace in poetry, even when the poems are not presented in a memorial setting but instead are used as a personal comfort. Readers may find they personally feel that poets who represent certain ethnicities are better able to convey the feelings of grief and mourning associated with losing someone special. If you prefer one certain type of poetry - and if it assists you in the grieving process - then make a concerted effort to seek out similar poems online or at local bookstores.
