Do You Read Poetry?

[softwareNerd]

A short dicussion with Brian led to this question.

• Do many members here like poetry?
  
• If so, how do they like to read it?
  
• and why?
  

[dark_unicorn]

1. Yes, I do love poetry and I also compose it in addition to reading it. The primary reason why I like it is because it brings words to a certain aesthetic level different from other literature, particularly ones where the rhythm and rhyme scheme are clearly structured.

2. I prefer to read poetry silently because there are few whom I like sharing it with because most people I know don't fully comprehend or appreciate it. Also, I like to be alone alot of the time, and poetry always gets composed when I'm alone.

[Felix]

I used to write poetry, but have stopped to do so. And I usually only wrote poetry to express bad feelings.

Reading other people's poems hardly ever gives me any benefit, because it is often hard to understand what the other person wants and in which mood that person was in, therefore I don't really care much about other people's poems.

[softwareNerd]

... often hard to understand what the [poet] wants and in which mood [the poet] was in, ...

Check out Longfellow's "Psalm of Life" and see if you understand and like it.

[JMeganSnow]

I used to write poetry, but have stopped to do so. And I usually only wrote poetry to express bad feelings.

This reminds me of a quote from Garrison Keillor in a book of poems I have:

Back when I was your age and had much too much time on my hands, I was ambitious to be a poet and even went so far as to write a few poems and send them away to magazines, double-spaced, with a stamped envelope. The poems were full of passionate obscurity, they veered between whimsy and nihilism, and they sounded like bad translations of, say, a gloomy Swede who'd never left Goteborg, and yet, being 21 and confident of my calling, I felt validated by the magazines' rejection of them and could have gone on writing the stuff for years and years. What killed my career was encouragement. I wrote a poem called "Crucifixion" and a friend of mine (himself a poet) wrote me a letter praising it that only made me see how cheap and fraudulent it was and I didn't want to be that kind of fake. I made a simple moral decision: it is probably better to imitate humor than portentous despair. I quit cold turkey.

I also used to write bad gloomy melodramatic poetry, then I quit for a while and focussed on living my life. Bizarrely, I feel no need now to complain about how deep and miserable and misunderstood I am, but I've been thinking of writing some simple, straightforward poetry about real life.

[Hal]

Very rarely read poetry. Theres a couple of poems I like (eg Eliot's Prufrock), but in general I dont see the point.

I normally read it silently, because I feel odd reading it out loud. A recitation can be good though, assuming the reader is talented.

[B. Royce]

I always read poetry aloud; after all, it is idealized speech, and without the speaking of it, it must fail to realize its full potential. Art is an end in itself, and I, in recitation, alone, speaker and hearer at once, experience the pleasure of my speaking as an end in myself. When I listen to others recite poetry, even poems which I love and which are recited well, my enjoyment is much less intense, like seeing a poster of a painting instead of the painting itself.

To enjoy in solitude one's own reading, one must have developed the skill of oral reading, and since that skill is not usually taught these days, few people develope a love for poetry. There are, instead, thousands of anti-poets who gather at ant-poetry jams and "recite" all kinds of bad prose. These people call themselves lovers of poetry, and give the impression that poetry is essentially an irrational, ugly, and primarily public form of entertainment. But the enjoyment of poetry requires one of the most prescious of values---solitude, plus the love of giving pleasureable expression to meaningful thought. When one has recited, or said, such poetry, one can realize as well that "I am the meaning".

[Felix]

This reminds me of a quote from Garrison Keillor in a book of poems I have

Nice quote.

I also used to write bad gloomy melodramatic poetry, then I quit for a while and focussed on living my life. Bizarrely, I feel no need now to complain about how deep and miserable and misunderstood I am, but I've been thinking of writing some simple, straightforward poetry about real life.

I guess that sums up nicely why I seem not to care about poetry now. I have left the stage of despair but have not (yet?) made the step to writing poetry about my current views. I'd rather live than write about it.

However, a good thing about putting things into writing is that it helps to focus one's mind. And as poetry is usually used to describe feelings or metaphysical ideas, it may help getting clear about them. Maybe my bad-mood poetry helped me to get clear about several things. You look at things in a different way once they are out of your head and you have banned them on paper.

Check out Longfellow's "Psalm of Life" and see if you understand and like it.

Wow. That's a great one! I may not read poetry, but, now that I think of it, I am an avid collector of quotes (which is why I always complained when the quotes at the top didn't work).

Maybe that counts, too. At least to a degree.

[softwareNerd]

I meant to vote for "reading aloud" as my preference; I'm pretty sure Brian did so too. Since the poll shows only one vote for that option, one of us didn't. So, for the record, two of us like to read it. I'm not sure if I'd prefer listening or silent reading. When I read silently, I guess I still "hear" it. If I can't -- as in a new poem -- I like it less. As for listening, I know I like to listen but there's precious little available to listen to.

With some poems, I like dramatic narrations. Some, I like to hum (is "intone" the right word?) -- kinda like, Leonard Cohen with words that make sense.

Felix, I'm glad you liked that poem. That thread has other good ones. Perhaps we should put together a short (say 20-poem) anthology called "So You Think You Don't like Poetry!" Maybe just a single post with 20 links, organized into sections of increasing complexity. [Yet another cause for evangelism.]

Any suggestions of "poems for beginners" (with links) anyone?

[Nxixcxk]

I hate poetry b/c it never makes sense to me.

[softwareNerd]

I hate poetry b/c it never makes sense to me.

It is possible that you've read the wrong poetry. If someone wandered into a modern-art museum and came out saying he hated art, I could understand that.

Check out the link to Longfellow's "Psalm of Life". I'd be curious to know why that example of a poem does not make any sense. Or check out Rudyard Kipling's "If".

Edited February 24, 2006 by softwareNerd

[B. Royce]

I meant to vote for "reading aloud" as my preference; I'm pretty sure Brian did so too. Since the poll shows only one vote for that option, one of us didn't. So, for the record, two of us like to read it. I'm not sure if I'd prefer listening or silent reading. When I read silently, I guess I still "hear" it. If I can't -- as in a new poem -- I like it less. As for listening, I know I like to listen but there's precious little available to listen to.

With some poems, I like dramatic narrations. Some, I like to hum (is "intone" the right word?) -- kinda like, Leonard Cohen with words that make sense.

Felix, I'm glad you liked that poem. That thread has other good ones. Perhaps we should put together a short (say 20-poem) anthology called "So You Think You Don't like Poetry!" Maybe just a single post with 20 links, organized into sections of increasing complexity. [Yet another cause for evangelism.]

Any suggestions of "poems for beginners" (with links) anyone?

You're right; I missed that "reading aloud" dot

About reading poetry, I have run across the following problem: apparently quite a few people have the mistaken idea that if they enjoy reading light-hearted poetry, or enjoyable rhyming poetry, they are being immature and childish. They think that poetry should be deeply serious and nothing else. If they have that idea (consciously or subconsciously) they have the most difficult time trying to read aloud happy poems. It's as though their minds are saying, "If you let yourself enjoy this, it will be proof that you are immature," similar to the disapproving, "You want to be like a hero? grow up!"

Having said that, for beginners I would recommend an older anthology of poems of various types (love lyrics, story poems, childrens' poems, patriotic poems, and humorous). Read some of each type, aloud, let yourself enjoy the sound of your own voice as it follows rhythms and hits rhymes. If you're not sure about a meaning, don't stop, flow on ahead; you can come back at a second or third reading to get the fuller meaning. But, if you run across a phrase or line that really delights you, go ahead and repeat it a few times; get the taste of it in your mouth! I remember the first time I read "One misty moisty morning" (the first line of a children's poem which I ran across when I was in my twenties). I repeated it ten times or so before I went on with the poem. "Hey, was that mature? was that philosophical? What a child!"

If your voice doesn't satisfy you, if it's not strong or vibrant enough, or if you just don't really enjoy it, get a book of oral exercises from the library and after a week or two of exercises you'll be sure to notice a vast improvement and increase of selfish enjoyment. Make your voice an instrument of personal pleasure.

[AMERICONORMAN]

I think I'll have more to say later but now I want to relate a recent poetry experience.

Swinburne!

So I first heard about him from Brian Faulkner. Since I really liked the poems of Brian, I immediately bought a Swinburne book. I noticed that there were many poems that were very long. I was glad though that I found one short poem that really moved me. So I would have to get back to Swinburne ...

Most recently I read Ayn Rand Answers and in discussing poetry one of the things she advises is to read Swinburne because he is really good. She is reluctant to say much about poetry but she expresses enthusiasm over him.

I recently wrote a story about the legend of Atlanta. And because of that I wanted to read his version. It was hard to get into it; I had trouble because the words are beautiful and express a grand vocabulary; it was hard to picture what exactly was going on. But since it was poetry I ordered myself to stick with it and enjoy the sound of my voice reading aloud, and to attempt to bring to it the emotion I felt the actor should express.

Eventually I fell in love with the poetry, the sound of it. I was thrilled by the flow and the melody of my voice. I was changing the pitches, the speed, the volume, trying to get my voice to stick with it, and to be attentive of my breathing even. Water helps.

I'm close to half way done the first read.

Once you are in the moment, as if you are experiencing the expression first hand, as an actor, the plot, the action, is easily noticeable and identifiable.

I am confident that the second more careful and slow read, asking deeper questions of the text, will bring me to find Swinburne's virtuosity. Virtuosity is something I actively look for when reading a literary artist. Even with bad values, looking at how brilliant the author expresses his brilliance is inspiring.

So what is brilliance in poetry?

Jose Gainza

[B. Royce]

I envy you, Jose, that you still have the supreme beauty of Swinburne's "Tristram of Lyonesse" and the grandeur of his "Erechtheus" ahead of you.

Though I add, I still read them with enjoyment every year since my first reading some 38 years ago.

[Nxixcxk]

The link to the first poetry didn't work softwarenerd, but I read the second and enjoyed it.

Good analogy btw with the art museum.

This has made me check out some poetry books from the library that were suggested in this thread. I'll get back to you of what I thought of them

[softwareNerd]

Thanks for point out the broken link. I fixed it.

Here's another poem, "Children's Hour" by Longfellow. I chatted , about this poem with some online buddies on "OO.net Chat" the other day. I'd be curious to hear what others think about it.

[Andrew Joseph Sandberg]

By William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,

And watered heaven with their tears,

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

[Bold Standard]

I love poetry, and read it often. I especially like poetry from the Renaissance through the 19th Century. I love Swinburne, Goethe, and Edmund Rostand (who wrote Cyrano de Bergerac--I think that play is a great sales pitch for poetry, if you get the right translation).

I'm one of the two people who likes to hear poetry recited the best. I prefer hearing poetry recited by a professional reader, because when I read it myself, I usually have to read or skim every line first, and then go back and read it once I figure out how the rhythm is supposed to go, which kind of takes the initial surprise away from hearing it perfect the first time. If the reader really gets it right, then I can just sit back and enjoy the poem all the way through as it was intended to be presented.

But a truly talented reader is about as rare as a truly talented poet, and sometimes even when a poet reads his own works, he gets it wrong.

[Mimpy]

I love poetry!! Don't read it as often as I'd like to because of time and whatnot, but I really like Walt Whitman...he's my favorite.

As to why I read poetry...it makes me feel inspired.

Edited January 13, 2007 by Mimpy

[softwareNerd]

...sometimes even when a poet reads his own works, he gets it wrong.

...or does not recite it as well as a good actor might. I think Robert Frost's recitation of "Road Not Taken" is an example (though a poet's own recitation does reveal a bit of his intent in writing the poem).

A recitation by a poet that I really like is Dylan Thomas reciting "Do not go gentle into that good night".

[intellectualammo]

I envy you, Jose, that you still have the supreme beauty of Swinburne's "Tristram of Lyonesse" and the grandeur of his "Erechtheus" ahead of you. Though I add, I still read them with enjoyment every year since my first reading some 38 years ago.

You would envy me then, as well. I was intro'd to Swinburne from a play I read about two weeks ago by Eugene O'Neill titled, "Long Day's Journey Into Night". There was a quote in there that made my eyes smile wide!

I just took a look at Swinburne's "Tristam of Lyonesse" and found this beauty while looking through it:

"Spring speaks again, and all our woods are stirred,

And all our wide glad wastes aflower around,

That twice have heard keen April's clarion sound

Since here we first together saw and heard Spring's light reverberate and reiterate word

Shine forth and speak in season.

Life stands crowned Here with the best one thing it ever found,

As of my soul's best birthdays dawns the third."

Yeah, you can bet I'll be reading the rest of it soon!!

[intellectualammo]

A short dicussion with Brian led to this question.

• Do many members here like poetry?
  
• If so, how do they like to read it?
  
• and why?
  

Well, I just really began my literary life, so I haven't read much poetry...but I did read, as far I know, every poem by Cummings.

I read them mainly because of what I like to call his "sense of Spring" rather than for his "sense of syntax" or "sense of punctuation". I'm not exactly saying that I don't like the latter "senses", just preferring the former more so.

Edited January 13, 2007 by intellectualammo

[B. Royce]

You would envy me then, as well. I was intro'd to Swinburne from a play I read about two weeks ago by Eugene O'Neill titled, "Long Day's Journey Into Night". There was a quote in there that made my eyes smile wide!

I just took a look at Swinburne's "Tristam of Lyonesse" and found this beauty while looking through it:

"Spring speaks again, and all our woods are stirred,

And all our wide glad wastes aflower around,

That twice have heard keen April's clarion sound

Since here we first together saw and heard Spring's light reverberate and reiterate word

Shine forth and speak in season.

Life stands crowned Here with the best one thing it ever found,

As of my soul's best birthdays dawns the third."

Yeah, you can bet I'll be reading the rest of it soon!!

Yes, there are many such beauties to be found in Tristram, as well as in many other poems by Swinburne. Not least of all is the full, ongoing rhythm of the poem, which is never forced and never flags, filling one's lungs, mouth, ears and mind with a continuous perfection of musical speech.

[intellectualammo]

[...]the full, ongoing rhythm of the poem, which is never forced and never flags, filling one's lungs, mouth, ears and mind with a continuous perfection of musical speech.

Now that's language that I can understand!

Poetic rhythm written using a...conducting baton...playing music that appeals to all of our literary senses, when we read or hear it being performed.

Edited January 13, 2007 by intellectualammo

[softwareNerd]

Today, I found a web-site that has a lot of recordings of poems, fiction etc.. It's called LibriVox. I haven't checked out the recordings yet, but from what I can tell they're all done by amateurs and in the public-domain. (Assuming the poem itself is old enough that it is out of copyright.)