Parlor Poetry

So why did Bradbury chose Dover Beach of all poems for Montag to recite to the women in the book?

I recall discussing this question in class a few days ago, i believe it was Matt Reynolds who stated that this poem was an emotional poem but it was recited in an emotionless world. The poem is about love and happiness and these characters in the book are constrained by rules and media. The emotions expressed in this poem were so powerful and deep that it depressed Mildred's friend who had a deep melancholy they've been trying to kill off for so many years.

I wouldn't consider myself a deep poetry person so i tried to find a poem in the course that i would chose if i was in Montags place. The one that i found actually rather relevant turned out to be an essay instead of a poem but i figured poetry and essays are both forms of literature so they are similar enough for me to use the essay instead of a poem. I chose Emerson's essay on Self Reliance. Now i don't remember every nook and cranny of this essay but the one memory that drew me to the conclusion that this was the best candidate was the fact that it discussed how many of us are easy blinded by our generation. Many of us spend so much time on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,Tumblr and our cellphones that we rarely go outside and build strong social life's, Hell I've been one of them. Technology is an addiction and just like any other addiction, we lose ourselves in it. I know i can't stand those teachers who get so uptight about cellphones claiming they're willing to take my phone away if i'm caught texting because apparently "it takes away my ability to think". I do believe that cellphones are distracting but telling a student not to use their phone in class is like a parent telling their rebellious teenage daughter not to go to the biggest party of the school year. But what's the real reason we can't turn away from technology even just for a day? Because we are addicted to the lifestyle we live, and that's exactly what happened to Mildred and her friends. Seashells, parlor walls and cars we're who they were, they spent so much time using them that it became apart of them. What i like about Emerson's poem is how he claims that if we would just take the time to break away from the rules and the life's we live then we could easily find out who we really are. Mildred and her friends lost who they were, if they would have been willing to turn off "the family", take out the seashells, stop speeding and start cruisin' downthe street and pick up a book then i think they would behave like "normal" people should. I think Emerson's essay is a great eye opener and if Mildred and her friends took the time to listen they'd learn how to be their own people.