I love the idea of poetry – I really do. The weaving together of words in a special way to express something that cannot truly be communicated using prose alone. It’s uniquely human and a very romantic idea. In literature, the poet is always the most sensitive and the most thoughtful of them all. They see deeper into people’s souls and observe more than anyone else.
The problem is that I just don’t enjoy reading the stuff. I’ve tried. I only like poetry when it’s telling a story. I’ve read “Paradise Lost”, “The Divine Comedy”, “The Illiad”, and “The Odyssey”. But it wasn’t the poetry that appealed to me – just the story. I’ve always been flummoxed by “pure poetry”. Mind you, I understand the concept. It’s just that my ideals don’t translate into capability! My spirit is willing and my flesh is uncooperative :)
Having said that, there are a few nice phrases in poetry that I like. For example:
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.This is the verse you grave for me: ‘Here he lies where he longed to be;
Here is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.’
-Robert Louis Stevenson
I also enjoy reading Omar Khayyam particularly the Fitzgerald translation. Both of these have the themes of death and life. They’re also both very direct in their expression and get straight to the point. In addition, they rhyme. So these seem to be the necessary prerequisites for me to enjoy poetry:
1. Has to either tell a story, or deal with interesting issues. No flowers or anything
2. Needs to be direct – almost in prose, without a need to decipher the words
3. Must rhyme
So much of good poetry falls outside these three parameters of mine. I know many bloggers who write poetry and I just can’t get through it no matter how much I try. This is clearly a failing on my part and I wish I was less banal in these matters. But there it is!
ah!! welcome to the club :)
I do understand “some” poems.But most of the times,it takes so much of hard work to make out what the poets wants to convey.So I don’t read poems unless somebody else tells me that they understood it :P
In reply to Bhavia
Maybe we can club people together depending on what poetry they like :D
Art is always a personal thing.. Unless it speaks out to you personally you will not be able to appreciate it.. it may be the same as the other guy or different.. It may or may not be how and what the creator intended.. But you must be able to relate to it to feel it and then appreciate it
In reply to Hrishi
That’s probably true. I guess it means that when I can’t understand some art, it has no relevance to me personally.
Meaning that certain types of art appealing to most people must address some truly universal issues :)
In reply to bhagwad
Sarcasm noted. But I agree. No matter how abstract an art is, if its connoisseur cannot convey its “beauty” to one who is not, he’s just a quack. And I’ve crossed paths with many such quacks. You can find them expending a great deal of effort to be among those few who “get it”. The artificiality was so thick with statements like “… oh waaaaaw… see how those lines blend into…” that it made me want to puke. Granted, it takes a certain ingenuity to grasp art, but passing comments such as, “oh, you won’t get it…” just makes me want to slap the smug off their faces.
I don’t think it’s something that’s shameful. Even as I spent undergraduate years studying English Literature, I could get never fully understand poetry. Poems like The Wasteland or Leaves of Grass, were the only one I understood, but the rest of it, I just couldn’t grasp. I’m someone who really enjoys prose.
i too cannot really rate to poetry that is unlike what you are able to relate to. i like the verse you have mentioned by RLS and can relate to it easily. i have written an autobiography of sorts of my early life in poetry ( i dont know whether you have read it or would like to read it again ) and the reason why i like it is because ( as you also mention ) it tells a story, it is not difficult to understand and it rhymes
Same here. I also find rambling prose difficult to read.
Well, I guess there is poetry and there is poetry. I have loved some( ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling, ‘On his Blindness’ by John Milton) and have been driven to tears by some others which I had the misfortune of having to study in school–‘Ulysses’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson comes immediately to the mind as one such.
In general I find that I cannot stand blank verse and also rhyming poems that are esoteric or have to do with philosophy (Actually I cannot stand philosophy even in prose form!!)
In reply to scribblehappy
It seems that this is something intensely personal. No rhyme [pun intended :)] or reason for determining our preferences…
i like poetry which i can understand and relate to. i appreciate the efforts taken to find the right rhyming words to communicate.. i remember studying a full textbook of hindi poems in cbse 10th. it was more difficult to remember the names, the poet and about them, re0write and interpret. i always wanted to interpret poems in my own way, didn’t like to reproduce the ” golden guide” verses for answers in exams.. :)
Understanding of poetry is often improved in ones more mature years. It also helps to improve ones language rather than sinking to the usage of what was known as ‘slum’ language that has become so prevalent.
In reply to Louise
Is it understanding or appreciation that improves? Sometimes I have to struggle just to make sense of what the persons’ trying to say :)