The First Written Poetry, Why Is It Still Well Known?

Before delving deep into contemporary poetry one must first look at the oldest poetry. Some of the most beautiful, absurd, and wise poetry has lasted for over 4000 years. My two examples are the Song of Solomon from the Old Testament, and The Ramayana, which is a sacred poem based on several Hindu legends. Before they were written, the stories were spread only by word of mouth. When the poems were exclusively orated, they evolved rapidly. Once written the ancient poems are now the basic reference point for all poetry to this day. Ill start with a famous quote.
Song of Solomon, 2. 10
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

This is a simple and pleasing excerpt but other parts of the Song Of Solomon are a blatantly sexual duologue. For Example...

Beloved

12 While the king was at his table,
my perfume spread its fragrance.

13 My lover is to me a sachet of myrrh
resting between my breasts.

14 My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
from the vineyards of En Gedi.

Lover

15 How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.

Beloved

16 How handsome you are, my lover!
Oh, how charming!
And our bed is verdant.

These excerpts from the Song Of Solomon are not as different from modern poetry as one would expect from 3000 year old poetry. Even though the Ramayana is an ancient Hindu epic, with hundreds of distracting names, the translated words still have a spiritual feeling,

“Hearing those words of his, the exceedingly energetic Kumbhayoni spoke as follows,

"Having regard to his (God's) energy and might,

I shall relate unto thee the history of his race,

In the light of which thou wilt perceive why Ravana's son had been capable of slaying his enemies,

But could not himself be slain by them. I shall, O Raghava.”

These ancient poems show us that three certain themes, Love, Spirituality, And Sex still are prevalent in poetry today. Poetry has been circling around similar themes for Millennia with only a few exceptions to the rule. As students of a contemporary poetry class it is OUR job to write truly original poetry. The main objective in my poetry is to make it 100% free from plagiarism. Plagiarism of even a concept for a poem is disgraceful. To break free from the norm is what is valued most in our contemporary world. To speak poetry is the application of the art. To write poetry is merely drawing a blueprint for the real artwork. To read poetry is to learn how a truly original artist (poet) creates the blueprint.

Turning the same themes of life into something original is what makes a poem last forever.