1. Read it aloud
2. Be receptive
3. Read carefully
4. Follow the leader
5. Read it over again
6. Forget the technical aspects
7. Consider it as a whole

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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2. Be receptive

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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3. Read Carefully

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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4. Follow the Leader

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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5. Read it over again

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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7. Consider it as a whole

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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