1. Read it aloud
Poetry is word-music, an art which paints pictures with words and sounds.
Since the sounds greatly increase the effect of the words, poems must be read aloud to
provide your fullest enjoyment. Silent reading just won't do poetry justice--it's like
trying to enjoy a concert by reading the score. Reading aloud enables the poem to
reproduce the music of rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, and harmony to enhance the
emotional colors of the words.
Make your first reading a silent one, if you like, to get a "feel" for the
content--but you should read aloud to experience the full potential of poetry.
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Read poetry with an open mind. Try to match your mood to the tone of the
content. Be receptive to the word music of the poet--let him speak through you, as if the
words were your own. This positive approach will allow the poem an opportunity to awaken a
satisfying emotional response. Unless you're willing to have your feelings aroused the way
good poetry can stir them, wait until a better time.
Should the poem still fail to "deliver" after your best receptive effort, you
needn't feel a sense of inadequacy--just as we differ in musical tastes or sense of humor,
we each have our own unique artistic criteria for the appreciation of poetry. You cannot
expect to like every poem, because no-one does.
Look for and enjoy poetry that does something special for you, but you must be in a
receptive frame of mind to allow it the opportunity.
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Relax, slow down; there's no rush. Read with understanding, rather than
speed. Speak the words crisply, with good diction, especially the beginning consonants.
Don't read with monotony or lack of inflection. Words and phrases can flow like a
sparkling stream or be jarring--let them do it their way. As you read the lines, feel
their excitement, their joy, their sadness; sense their look, smell and taste.
Only by reading carefully will you experience an emotional response to the word sounds and
images by which the poet transfers his sense impressions to you.
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Pretend you're dancing with the poem and following its lead. Slow down or stop where
the punctuation indicates. Hesitate ever so slightly at run-on line endings and pause
between stanzas.
Don't impose a mechanical "tee-dum tee-dum" meter in your reading--let the words
of the poem provide the rhythm and the meter will fend nicely for itself.
Enjoy the poetic music as you dance, as well as the visual aspect of a poem's layout on
the page, which often represents a careful preparation by the poet to complement the
texture of his work.
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Very often we are unable to fully appreciate a poetic work on the first reading. Maybe
a distracted mood was interfering with our receptive antennae. Perhaps there are elusive
undertones or subtleties not initially perceived which could make a world of difference in
our response to subsequent readings.
The incremental appreciation of art and music--of which poetry is both--is dependent on
repetition. What may not have impressed us at all on first exposure may become a beloved
favorite if repeated. So if a poem failed to "grab" you the first time, give it
another chance. Read it over again.
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6. Forget the technical aspects
Don't be overly concerned with the technical aspects of poetic construction. It's not
vital to understand the metrical variations. The definitions of esoteric terminology are
no more necessary for pleasurable reading than to be a connoisseur of vintages in order to
enjoy a glass of wine. The only thing that matters is whether or not you like the poem;
you don't have to analyze it--let the English professors do that.
On the other hand, if you feel such additional knowledge will enhance your pleasure, by
all means, pursue it.
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There is truth in the saying that a poem is only as good as its weakest line. A
well-written piece of poetry--meaning one which is successful in imparting effective word
images and sounds to the reader--results from the unity of its segments with the whole,
whether it be a simple sonnet or a sweeping epic.
We all like to remember and quote favorite lines which have a memorable meaning or beauty
of expression. Other lines, words and phrases, however, which have little apparent
significance by themselves, can be integral components in the context of their
relationship to the rest of the poem,
The obvious conclusion is that the ultimate worthiness of a poetic composition is
dependent upon the contributions made by each word and every line to the complete work.
Therefore, don't fragmentize the poem in your reading, but evaluate and enjoy it as a
whole.
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