What The Poet Meant....

My daughters search for meaning in assigned poetry

I wanted to read

something with meat on it

plump and satisfying

teeming with life,

filled with metaphors

and a thousand hyperboles

achingly heavy with

pathos and strife.

But

the poem they assigned me

was chronically anaemic

skeletal and wanting

in every sense

would offer no fodder

for an English essay

would keep all its mystery

close to its chest

I scoured the stanzas

for depth and meaning

tapped my toes to

the  metre of the rhyme,

separated syllable's

lest some cryptic message

had slipped through the space

between the lines.

I found

words

composed of letters

with

a peppering of punctuation

on the way.

Author's Note

Wrote this for my daughter who was fed up of having to find out ' what the poet meant ' for her Literature homework

Reviews

[Leigh]

I can imagine your daughters plight and you helping her, the meaning of poems is often twisted, cryptical and well hidden. I find it quite amusing when the meaning of a well known classic song with amazing lyrics is revealed as something quite ordinary and everyday. Thanks for adding to the group 'Poems about Poetry'

[J. J. Nightingale]

So many big words to outdo our minds .. and secrets left hidden, in between rhymes ..

I don't understand half of the poems I read, don't know if it's "my mind" .. or the author's plan .. Poetry need not be so deep, that the reader drowns ...lol ..

You are a good Mother, to be so helpful in this terrible time of need ...

I like your style .. Jasmine :)

[quinfinn]

oh, lord...i know all too well what your daughter had to go through, i went through this in school and was not popular with the faculty because i told them their idea of talent was limp and flaccid and showed no imagination, started writing my own stuff then and never looked back! this was an affirmation that the barbaric practice of assigning horrible reading to children still goes on today... you met it out well and worded it very cleverly, thank you for this trip down memory (nightmare) lane. great poem, btw!!!

[New Dawn]

Thank you again - yes wouldn't it be so much easier if children were allowed to make their own choice in what they read and studied- I hated having to dissect literature - the process ruined some classic books for me. Nowadays I just read and run so to speak - much more enjoyable

[Pax]

wise mom, and a really helpful mom.
great job on the poem.
sometime i often wonder what the poet meant in his/her poem
but still i read it because i will learned it someday along the way.

[New Dawn]

Thank you so much

[...]

. haha!!! ... i so understand this ... maybe a lot of it has to do with the fact that english is my second language ... but i just don't know what to say when i read certain poems ... i read lines and lines and lines ... and i feel like asking ... "so, what was the point you were trying to make?" ... i am reminded of a dialogue from the movie "philadelphia" in which denzel washington keeps saying "can you please explain it to me like i'm a nine year old?" ... i completely enjoyed this piece and i really hope your daughter gets meaningful poetry to review in the future ... and i always get to read poems that i can understand :P ...

. p.s. you're a very cute mom, dear shelley :) ...

[New Dawn]

Yes I remember struggling with the same things at school and now I have to say to my daughter ' the answer is in there somewhere' but it can be elusive. At least on this site if I really can't understand something I can ask the writer or simply not review - not an option with course work when the poets are often long dead :)

[...]

. hahahaha!!! ... you're very witty ... and very right ... we can't call the spirits of those poets who are gone and say "excuse me, but what did you really mean when you said such and such thing fifty or hundred years ago ?" ... that would create an outrage in the spirit world :P ...

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

Having to write a three page essay on a poem is intimidating enough. Has me wondering what on earth did she say? Love her quote from the author's note. Now that would be a very good essay. Great work, Shelley.

[New Dawn]

Well the three page remark may have been a bit of hyperbole but still I remember myself being perplexed by the things I was supposed to read into poets work. So much nicer reading for leisure

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

Much nicer! I wouldn't doubt that they require three pages sometimes. :)

[Michael G.]

A wise mother, and a good writer, too. Excellent work. I hope I'm never accused of writing something only to have the reader fret and wonder as to what my deep dark meaning was. You did this well.

[New Dawn]

thank you Michael - I think it's a little easier to find meaning in poetry when you haven't got to tell your English teacher what you found. I have lost track of the times my daughter has announced - ' perhaps the poet didn't mean anything! ' Just a bit of fun but glad you enjoyed it.

[Michael G.]

I think many times I would agree with your daughter. The poet didn't mean anything. He just liked the sound of the words he wrote down.
This was my pleasure.