Reading A Poem – ChessMaster at play
A poem is a strange piece of writing
You know how with a bestseller the thing the blurb is always boasting about is how the reader cannot put down the book, it was a real page-turner….etc. Well, reading a poem is different.
First never read a poem if you are trying to go to sleep. Poems have a way of confounding you and will not relax you at all. You have to read a poem in a way that makes the whole practice of speed-reading a joke. You are poised, open to the possibility of lingering over some words and working up images in your mind.
Why does a poem unsettle you so much? It is a little voicing of thought about the universe that the poet is capturing using
A) LANGUAGE: words, breaks, gaps, tone, rhythm, similar and dissimilar sounds,
B) IMAGERY: images, sometimes beautiful, poignant, other times jarring, disturbing.
You get to FEEL cos you can hear it and see it.
A word in a poem can mean a few different things at once and the meanings can either complement or contradict each other. I am not talking about nursery rhymes or humorous poems with their jaunty sounds and witty punchlines.
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
William Carlos Williams
What is William Carlos Williams saying?
I see a newspaper. I see headlines. I see news images (perhaps from TV) of wars and conflicts. What does “there” refer to? It must be “the news” because he appears to be saying that poems don’t appear to be useful as it does not offer the news. Once I am sure about that – Yes! I get it – he is saying that the poet will probably offer more wisdom and insight to the human condition – news is just propaganda that leads to more conflicts?
Do you see what I see?
You know how with a bestseller the thing the blurb is always boasting about is how the reader cannot put down the book, it was a real page-turner….etc. Well, reading a poem is different.
First never read a poem if you are trying to go to sleep. Poems have a way of confounding you and will not relax you at all. You have to read a poem in a way that makes the whole practice of speed-reading a joke. You are poised, open to the possibility of lingering over some words and working up images in your mind.
Why does a poem unsettle you so much? It is a little voicing of thought about the universe that the poet is capturing using
A) LANGUAGE: words, breaks, gaps, tone, rhythm, similar and dissimilar sounds,
B) IMAGERY: images, sometimes beautiful, poignant, other times jarring, disturbing.
You get to FEEL cos you can hear it and see it.
A word in a poem can mean a few different things at once and the meanings can either complement or contradict each other. I am not talking about nursery rhymes or humorous poems with their jaunty sounds and witty punchlines.
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
William Carlos Williams
What is William Carlos Williams saying?
I see a newspaper. I see headlines. I see news images (perhaps from TV) of wars and conflicts. What does “there” refer to? It must be “the news” because he appears to be saying that poems don’t appear to be useful as it does not offer the news. Once I am sure about that – Yes! I get it – he is saying that the poet will probably offer more wisdom and insight to the human condition – news is just propaganda that leads to more conflicts?
Do you see what I see?
Comments