[stylist] How to Read A Poem

[Lynda Lambert]

Barbara, and others who want to know How to Read a Poem.

It take a lot of work, and a lot of learning "how to" to read a poem.
That is why many readers are so intimidated by a poem.  In just a very few short line, the entire universe can be explored.
Or, the inner workings of a mind, or the most minute microscopic world. The poem is a microcosomn. Don't know if I spelled that right, but who cares? I sure don't, you get my message anyway.

BARBARA_ Thanks for your comment yesterday on the poem I wrote in celebration of the New Moon and Eclipse that so many people observed in the past few days.

Barbara, you said you are "confused" and "disoriented" when you read my poem. That brought a smile to my face, I have to say. I was so amused with your comments, and the epilogue statement in your response.  My poem evoked an emotion in you and that is a start that is a good thing! You made my evening! And, you have inspired me to write a new blog article on How to Read a Poem. I will work on that later this week. Thanks for your response!!!!

That is truly understandable. Undergraduate students in my English Literature courses often express a frustration when they encounter  difficult  poetry and it was always so much fun working with them and observing how they grow once they begin to unpack the tools they need to have to really learn how to read a poem.

Learning how to "read" a poem takes a great deal of effort and time. But most of all it take a deep desire and a change of attitude in how to approach something new to us.   One little poem can make us feel so uncomfortable when approaching it if we have not had experiences in learning HOW to READ the poem.

There are some fantastic books available for learning how to walk deeper into the waters of learning how to explicate a poem.  

Books I used in the classroom for many years with students at the college is 
_ Contemporary American Poetry_ 
    by Donald Hall  and 
_Writing Dangerous Poetry_ 
    by Michael C. Smith.

There are other great books on this subject, these are only two of the ones that I used. I saw amazing results with the students and big attitude shifts once they began to learn the methods of figuring out a poem.

Here are some keys to begin on this path, if you are sincere in wanting to really begin to understand as you read. I wrote out a few things to consider, and a few question as to how you might begin to consider those things. The are:

 
Material used from other times and persons.
Q. How did I describe the other sources of material I used?  
How are the sources combined with my own text - that is called "appropriation." 
Can you figure this out as you read? 
Can you figure out the different voices of the texts, within the poem?
nDecenters authority and embraces pluralism
Q. Is this concept present in the poem? How so?
nEncourages a many-sided point of view
Q. Does this throw you a curve, as you are not accustomed to looking and listening to different points of view within the poem?
Does this make you uncomfortable?
If so, why is that?
nIt is NOT didactic
Q. Do you expect the poet to give you a clear point of view - like looking at a stop sign with driving, ir a green light at the intersection? 
Do you expect the poem to be a type of billboard that gives you an instruction or promotes one particular thing, image, or notion? 

If so, discard that notion.
nMethod and intuition replace intention
Q.  Discard the notion that the poet is giving you her motive or intention.  Ask instead, "What is the METHOD that was used in THIS poem? HOW was it written?  
How can I feel the intuition that I need to have to understand something here? What is my GUT saying, not my didactic brain. 
 HOW do I FEEL when I am reading this poem? And, Why do I feel this way?
nHas no conclusion & doubles back on itself with overlapping and sometimes contradictory versions
Q.  Where does the poem overlap?
What ideas are changing as I read?  What is shifting here in the poem?  How do the images here in the poem work in layers of meaning?  There are multiple layers and multiple meanings in the poem - how can I begin to see them, one at a time, and then how can I see them mingling and changing?




Lynda Lambert
104 River Road
Ellwood City, PA 16117

724 758 4979

My Blog:  http://www.walkingbyinnervision.blogspot.com
My Website:  http://lyndalambert.com