Protest Poetry as an Effective Tool in Influencing an Audience

Through my research, I have found that the use of protest poetry can be more effective at influencing an audience than other genres. The use of protest poetry is prevalent in modern-day society where the problems of racism, climate change and civil rights are present. The word protest means objection or complaint. Poetry is the literary work in which feelings and ideas are expressed using a distinctive style of rhythm. Protest Poetry is used to address socio-political problems and objects against them. 

The Poem “If a Tree Falls”

One environmentalist that uses protest poetry to convey his thoughts is Bruce Douglas Cockburn. He was born on May 27th, 1945 in Ottawa, Ontario. He is presently a Canadian singer, environmentalist and activist. His song styles cover many broad topics that include human rights, environmental issues, politics and Christianity. He has written over 300 songs with a career spanning 40 years. The start of his environmental activist work began in 1983 just after he had left school. He went on a trip to Central America as a representative of the international aid organisation OXFAM. This helped him to realise the injustices and oppressions in third world countries. An environmentalist is a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities. This new passion of his set the course of his life on a new path. Instead of just being a singer he expressed his dissatisfaction and explored big issues through the use of poetry. One of his major poems is named “If a Tree Falls”. This poem explores the idea of tree logging and how everyone is destroying the forests while turning a blind eye to the damage of the habitat and natural animals. This song emphasises the consequences that will occur if we continue to neglect the dying environment. Cockburn felt strongly towards change in this area as his personal experiences have changed how he perceives the world and had a major effect on his life thereafter. In an interview when discussing his poem, he was asked why he felt he had to write this. His response was “Whether humans caused it or not we have to change. There is always finger pointing with no one taking responsibility but really its everyone collectively. The issue that is causing this is greed and self-interest. If we want to stay on top of climate change, we need to get our act together and do something about it.” This shows how strongly he feels towards this subject and helps everyone understand how big of a problem this is.

Through the song “If a Tree Falls” Cockburn presents us with the problem of natural destruction and influences us to change. He does this through the use of poetic devices that include, diction, metaphor and personification. This can only be done through the use of protest poetry and would not be capable through other literary forms such as feature articles. By expressing these injustices through protest poetry, Cockburn can convey the sheer amount of destruction, to influence the audience to take action. The use of diction describes the detrimental effects on the environment as a result of deforestation. At the start phrases like teeming green and rainforest. The gives the impression of lush and healthy. This is then contrasted with words such as wrinkled, dark holes and lobotomy. Also, the word cortege has been used which implies the death of the forest. This contrast shows us the changes that are occurring to the forests. The strong use of the metaphor in the phrase “Green brain facing lobotomy” helps us understand the importance of the environment by comparing the destruction of the forest to severing connections within the brain. This positions the forest as the epicentre of the world. The use of personification in the song allows the audience to understand the main issue being discussed. The phrase “busy monster eat dark holes in the spirit world” refers to all of the machines that destroy the natural habitat by cutting down the trees. The are positioning the machines as if they were living monsters.  

Conclusion

Protest Poetry aims to shock leaders into action by presenting issues in society through the form of rhythm in poetry. There few main ways that make protest poetry more effective at influencing an audience than other genres. Through the use of rhythm and poetic devices, Bruce Cockburn influences the audience to change and take responsibility for all of the terrible injustices in the world.