Coming to the end of this course, I have been thinking a lot about how it stared: with Ken Robinson’s beliefs about creativity. He says that creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. In our discussion, I remember we talked about certain questions that arise around Robinson’s theory. What is value? What is original? And for both of these, To who? We decided in tutorial that for something to have value, it depends on the perspective. Something can have value to yourself, the creator, and then cannot have any value at all for someone else. We also discussed that it varies throughout time and culture. In my opinion, I think perhaps “value” is used by Robinson to maintain the ambiguity that surrounds creativity. For something to be original, I believe, it simply has to be something that you, the creator, have never done before. Original things are things that have never been done in that way before, therefore making everything we do creative. We all have different perspectives and ways of doing things so no two things done by different people will ever be the same. Doesn’t this then mean that all things are creative, in accordance to Robinson’s statement?
For this creative act, I wanted to use something that had been used before but put my own twist on it, therefore making it my own original piece that has value, to me. I decided to use the lyrics from various songs to compose an original piece of poetry. I think that by using words that have already been put together in certain ways and manipulating them to make something original for myself I am able to prove that although things may not be original or have value to someone else, it can still be a creative act because it is something that you have never done before. It is a new way to do what has already been done. Below the poem, I included the songs that I used to form the work. Hope you like it!
When you left me
The night had already begun
You didn’t know all the ways I loved you
I broke your heart and I let myself down
I come from a long line of sinners like me
Everything inside never comes out right
You don’t have to call me
But I believe that lovers should be tied together
Heaven forbid you end up alone
Honey, I love your love the most
1. No Surprise, Theory of a Deadman
2. Soft Rock Star, Metric
3. Cry Me a River, Justin Timberlake
4. Lost and Found, Randy Rogers Band
5. Sinners Like Me, Eric Church
6. Sorry, Buckcherry
7. You Don’t Have to Call Me, Taylor Swift
8. A Perfect Sonnet, Bright Eyes
9. Heaven Forbid, The Fray
10. I Love Your Love the Most, Eric Church
