The Genre of Documentary Poetry in Some Selected Samples of Contemporary Poetry: A Critical Approach

Abstract

one of the literary innovations is the new genre of documentary poetry or docupoetry. Documentary poetry has no unified definition, but one defining line is that it combines artistic talent along with factual material from the real world or the documents of real witnesses. It is a method of writing that mixes texts for make ethnographic research. However, documentary refers to the poetry of witness through which verses make existing documentation created from manifold viewpoints, witnesses’ interpretations, and dialogues. It is a case study of people, events, and places; the poet can test a social and human case, through his artistic talent of writing. However, a poet is expected to transfer not only the witnesses’ perspectives but his own as well. These tendencies are colorized in an attempt to portray a new version of the truth. It is an attempt to raise the voice of the marginalized or the oppressed or the often neglected against the voice of their suppressors; it portrays a rather distinct version of the national story or identity. In conclusion, it highlights the meaning of documentary poetry, its development, and its characteristics. It also attempts to give a brief critical analysis of some selected poems by some selected prominent documentary poets.