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Need help with the art of reading poems!

5 Years Ago


Poetry is the more imaginative arm of writing, and some serious work goes into coming up with a good poem. 

But the thing is, I grew up reading most poems that usually had a rhyme scheme and were easy to follow. By easy to follow I mean to understand what the poet was saying. Even if you failed to identify what a metaphor or two meant, you could still get more than the basic gist of the work. But modern poems are neither lyrical nor easy to follow. At least that's what I feel. But they do have many literary devices, and there would be a lot of poems brimming with beauty. 

I feel that reading a poem is also an art. Does anyone else feel so as well? 
All poets, can you please shed some light on how to read poems to appreciate them better? I am no poet and have no inclinations to venture into the field, but I want to understand it better nonetheless. Anyone willing to impart their wisdom or give me an earful, please do so! I think we can all help each other understand it better here. 

Re: Need help with the art of reading poems!

5 Years Ago


As time changes, poetry changes. Poetry is merely a reflection of the lives lived by the poets. In order to know the gist of the poem, you need to first understand the title. Sometimes, poets try to tell an entire story just by a title. So, I suggest you to focus in the tile and try to analyse first. In addition to it, you can try to acknowledge the mood of the poet while writing the poem. The style of the poem reveals lot about its gist. For example, Understanding whether the poem is a memoir or satire or regret or letter or informative can help a lot regarding the way to read it, untieing the laces of the poem and get to its centre. Regarding vocabulary, you can sometimes look for it in dictionary or normally, you can just assume the meaning of the words, which often get similar to the exact one tried to be implied by the poet.
Hope I helped you in at least a little way to help you read poems accurately and get the gist in an satisfying manner.