Through my research, I have found that the use of protest poetry can be more effective in influencing audiences than other genres. The use of protest poetry is prevalent in modern society where the issues 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 rhythmic style. Protest poetry is used to address socio-political problems and object against them. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Poem “If a Tree Falls” An environmentalist who uses protest poetry to convey his thoughts is Bruce Douglas Cockburn. He was born on May 27, 1945 in Ottawa, Ontario. He is currently 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 in a career spanning 40 years. The beginning of his activity as an environmental activist began in 1983, immediately after leaving school. He traveled to Central America as a representative of the international humanitarian organization OXFAM. This helped him realize 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 his life on a new path. Instead of simply being a singer, he expressed his dissatisfaction and explored big issues through the use of poetry. One of his most important poems is entitled “If a Tree Falls”. This poem explores the idea of logging trees and how everyone is destroying the forests while turning a blind eye to the damage to natural habitat and animals. This song highlights the consequences that will occur if we continue to neglect the dying environment. Cockburn was strongly oriented towards change in this area as his personal experiences changed the way he perceives the world and thereafter had a major effect on his life. In an interview while discussing his poem, he was asked why he felt he had to write it. His response was: “Whether humans caused it or not, we need to change. There's always finger pointing with no one taking responsibility, but in reality it's everyone collectively. The problem that is causing this is greed and self-interest. If we want to stay ahead of climate change, we need to act together and do something about it.” This shows how strongly you feel about this topic and helps everyone understand how big of a problem it is. Through the song "If a Tree Falls" Cockburn presents us with the problem of natural destruction and pushes 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 possible through other literary forms such as feature articles. By expressing these injustices through protest poetry, Cockburn can convey the enormous amount of destruction, to influence the audience to take action. The use of the phrase describes the harmful effects on the environment due to deforestation. At the beginning phrases like teeming green and rainforest. It gives the impression of lush and healthy. This is then contrasted with words like wrinkled, holes.
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