[stylist] How to Read A Poem

Tue May 22 17:38:17 UTC 2012

I'll have to check into these books.  I thought my professor in my college 
poetry class was nuts for some of his interpretations of poems.  LOL!  I'm 
probably the one who is because I never did get it.
I like poems that say what the author wanted to say, so learning how to 
interpret will help me be a better reader ... and writer.  Thank you.
Barbara

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. -- Carl Sandburg
-----Original Message----- 
From: Lynda Lambert
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 7:08 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: [stylist] How to Read A Poem

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

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