My neighbor gave me a book of Wallace Stevens poems. It's been years since I've read a poem that wasn't in New Yorker, Sports Illustrated or Playboy. What's the best way to attack this stuff? Just read through them, like a book? Read one and think about it for a while? Read a bunch one night, then go back and read the same bunch the next night? Leave the book sitting untouched to impress women?
How do you read poetry?
Started by Stone, Oct 15 2004 11:31 AM
38 replies to this topic
#2
Wilfrid1
-
- Members
-
- 42,108 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 01:53 PM
Pick your favorite rhythm track and try rapping one. I suggest the one about the blue guitar.
Elect-a-lujah
***Every Monday***At the Sign of the Pink Pig.
If the author could go around the place hitting random readers with a rubber hammer, the Pink Pig would still be worth a visit.
***Every Monday***At the Sign of the Pink Pig.
If the author could go around the place hitting random readers with a rubber hammer, the Pink Pig would still be worth a visit.
#3
Ron Johnson
-
- Members
-
- 8,958 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 02:02 PM
Also, go left to right and top to bottom.
#5
Orik
-
- Technocrat
-
- 15,391 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 02:46 PM
really???Also, go left to right and top to bottom.
That sure does explain a lot.
Stone -- figure out how to write poetry, then do the opposite
I never said that
#7
g.johnson
-
- Members
-
- 18,877 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 03:08 PM
But don't read your own because, according to Wilfrid, you won't be able to figure out what it means.really???Also, go left to right and top to bottom.
That sure does explain a lot.
Stone -- figure out how to write poetry, then do the opposite
The Obnoxious Glyn Johnson
#8
GG Mora
-
- Members
-
- 9,232 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 03:12 PM
Ah! So that's what that bit with the monkey and the weasel is about. Thanks.
#9
GG Mora
-
- Members
-
- 9,232 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 03:14 PM
Okay, hang on just a derned sec. I thought the monkey chased the weasel around a mulberry bush. What's with the fucking "cobbler's bench"?
#10
Liza
-
- Members
-
- 8,590 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 06:11 PM
Look at the contents page. Scan down the titles until you find one that reminds you of either your first dog, or your first sexual experience. Read that one.
“And another thing. You don't have to "move on" either. Not until you're ready. People say, Oh, you should be grateful. They say, Oh, it's time for you to move on. I'm like, What are you, a cop with a nightstick? I'll move on when I'm done playing the blues on my harmonica, thank you very much.
Really, people will tell you all kinds of garbage. Don't believe it.
You don't have to move on until you're ready.”
Really, people will tell you all kinds of garbage. Don't believe it.
You don't have to move on until you're ready.”
#11
Stone
-
- Members
-
- 13,288 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 06:16 PM
Hopefully it's not the same poem.Look at the contents page. Scan down the titles until you find one that reminds you of either your first dog, or your first sexual experience. Read that one.
(I beat you to it.)
#12
Wilfrid1
-
- Members
-
- 42,108 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 06:31 PM
"Not Ideas about the Thing but the Thing Itself"?
Elect-a-lujah
***Every Monday***At the Sign of the Pink Pig.
If the author could go around the place hitting random readers with a rubber hammer, the Pink Pig would still be worth a visit.
***Every Monday***At the Sign of the Pink Pig.
If the author could go around the place hitting random readers with a rubber hammer, the Pink Pig would still be worth a visit.
#13
cabrales
-
- Members
-
- 3,262 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 06:31 PM
I've had a similar problem with a complete set of Shakespeare sonnets that I tried to read more than two years ago, but never got anywhere with. Now, I am tackling them one-by-one, and, importantly, often with a glass of champagne like I tend to have at the end of a busy day. This is a volume with commentary/annotations.
#14
Stone
-
- Members
-
- 13,288 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 06:50 PM
Close, but not really. I know how to read the actual poem (but I do often find myself reading right to left -- thanks for that tip). But when reading a novel it's obvious -- you read. Turn the pages, take it in. It's a process that takes a while, leading to a satisfactory result.ok, ok, try this site and see if it's what you are looking for.You people suck.
How to read poetry
Reading a one-page poem takes about 45 seconds, maybe a minute and a half if I purposefully slow down. It seems erroneous to just turn the page and read the next, which most likely will have nothing to do with the first. I can't imagine that people truly read a book of poetry in this fashion.
#15
galleygirl
-
- Members
-
- 1,177 posts
Advanced Member
Posted 15 October 2004 - 06:51 PM
When you pick one, and have that glass of wine by your side, read it aloud....
