When I was in high school, poetry terrified me because I did not know how to talk about it. I was too scared to try to interpret a poem because I was worried that I would be way off. Now that I know that meaning is just one element of a poem, I have more confidence in writing about it. I find it so much easier to write about poetry now that I know how to analyze a poem’s form and style. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I’m good at scansion. I like to look at a poem piece by piece, structure by structure to apreciate the poet’s artistry. The power of a poem is more than its meaning. It’s in each individual carefully-selected word. I think that when writing about poetry, it helps to be patient. Don’t try to rush into it; let the ideas mingle in your mind for a bit before you start making judgments. And above all, don’t be afraid. I’ve learned that if you feel like poetry is intimidating, that it’s some sublime, untouchable piece of genius, you’ll never feel comfortable with analyzing or writing about it.
Comments (1)
You make a good point about the analysis of poetry. Too many people are intimidated of doing this and are often doomed to failure before they even start their analyses because of this fear. A course can be taught on the analysis of poetry alone and I wouldn't mind taking such a course. The ENG 140 class that we all had to take was a nice introduction, but I think that the Undergraduate English curriculum at QC could be further enhanced if another elctive was added in which Poetry was examined more closely (maybe there is sucha a course, except I missed it?).
The Poetic terms we had to choose from and use from that list we used earlier in the semester are ALL interesting on many levels and deserve a lot more closely focused attention than we gave them (this due to time constraints more than anything else). I've learned to associate certain poetic terms with specific poets now, as a result of our Honors exam preparation.Here are some, just to name a few:
Emily Dickinson, for instance, was known for her use of slant rhyme. Shakespeare, was known for his use of iambic pentamenter, couplets, English (a.k.a. Shakespearean) sonnets, and blank verse. The Metaphysical poets, such as Marvell and Donne--add to that Keats---used synaesthesia (the blending of the senses).
The fact that we got the chance to understand how these poets used these poetic elements really has helped us to appreciate how rich this sybtopic of English literature really is.
Posted by Optimus2g | April 4, 2007 11:31 AM
Posted on April 4, 2007 11:31