Poetry and I? Never.
- Poetry and I? Never.
I have always disliked poetry. I always felt dumb when reading it, but even more when I was expected to explicate it and find the meanings. I think that is why it was so difficult for me to want to study poetry. I think the main difference between writing poetry and writing about poetry is that when you write poetry you can determine the meaning and decide what the “final message” is. However, when you are writing about poetry it is much more difficult to interpret things especially if you have no idea who the author is and how they wanted the poem to be interpreted. It already stresses me out when I am told that my interpretation of literature is incorrect, but with something like poetry where the interpretation could have several meanings because of how it is written.
When I wrote my own poem, I couldn’t really distinguish the type of poem I wanted to write. Yet, I knew I wanted there to be some type of rhythm and it made it easier for me to understand the meter and the rhyme scheme, which would in turn allow me to explain that to others. In regard to writing about poetry, it helped me feel a bit more in control of the narrative, especially if I was expected to defend my claim and interpretation. I also felt so much more confident in my poetry explication skills!
I think the important thing I learned from this poetry section is how important it is for one to emphasize the need for evidence in order to defend your interpretation. It’s also important to ensure that students feel like they aren’t dumb for seeing things differently.
I don't think this changed my feelings about poetry, if anything it just made me feel indifferent.
Hi Keiry,
ReplyDeleteI really get what you’re saying about poetry feeling intimidating, because I’ve felt that same way too. It’s hard when you’re told to pull out a deep meaning, but you’re worried your interpretation might be “wrong. I once had a teacher tell me that there is never really a “wrong” interpretation and that’s the beautiful thing about poetry. It just makes us feel, and whatever resonates; does. Honestly, that’s such an important reminder, because I think a lot of people avoid poetry just because they’ve been made to feel like they’re “wrong” when really they’re just noticing something in a new way. Even if this experience didn’t totally change your feelings toward poetry, I think the fact that you came out of it more confident and less anxious about analyzing it shows growth. Sometimes the win isn’t falling in love with poetry, but just getting to a place where you can handle it without shutting down or doubting yourself every step of the way. That confidence is going to carry over into how you approach other challenging readings too, which I think is just as valuable.
Hey Keiry! I truly, truly, understand your frustrations with poetry because I honestly felt the same way for a long time (and still kind of do). I wrote about this in my blog post, but I always put so much pressure on myself to find some hidden meaning in poetry because in my head I had this idea that poetry had to be like a puzzle to put together or something. In reality, as I have written more and more poetry for the classes I have taken throughout college I have realized that writing poetry has helped take the pressure off of myself when analyzing poetry. I have no realized that poetry can be pretty straightforward, and it has helped me to even enjoy poetry more. Ironically, the thing that helps most with understanding poetry is reading more poetry.
ReplyDeleteHey Keiry, I like your blog entry. I agree with your statement on the difficulty with writing about poetry is no.1, understanding poetry but even that is a challenge in and of itself without needing an analytical magnifying glass. Poetry is complex but I believe this difficulty to be apart of the beauty in poetry. Same as how there are works from poets since the beginning of written language to people during the midieval ages, their magnificient works are still being analyzed and this is the beauty of interpretation: that there are so many different ways to interpret and understand works. It is up to us to find definition within simply words because poetry is just words on a canvas, or for the Ancient Greeks, words written on a tablet.
ReplyDeleteHi Keiry. Your opening paragraph made me laugh, because I was recalling all the times I've had to analyze poetry in school and how I invariably get disgusted with critics because they really do read too much into things sometimes...especially if they're explicating a poem that's famous and been gone over a million times. It's like picking over a carcass with no meat left on it. Sure, a lot of the romantics (and even some of the modernists) had all kinds of referents to the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, etc. etc. But a lot of poetry writing, I think, starts off instinctively and the poet doesn't know exactly what it is they're saying either!
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