Poetry is an excellent reflection of what was going on in society when it was written. Poetry can give incite into both the political and social aspects of life. For example poetry as a mirror of our times,unfortunately, reflects: violence, racism, unbarred hatred and levels of despair that haven't been seen since the dark ages. In the song 'DeerDance' by System of a Down, the lyrics say: "Pushing little children with their fully automatics, …showed first 75 words of 483 total…

…showed last 75 words of 483 total…portrays a message in a manner that people will listen to. In the Shakespearean era people would have read poetry that appealed to that era's style, both formal poetry and rap or informal poetry portray messages about the times, the reason that they are different though is because 'trends' change. For example you get far fewer people today listening to poetry than to rap but they both portray message about their times in appropriate manners.