Understanding Poetry #5: Metrics. [14] X Research source Pick up an anthology of poetry and work your way through it, or get a book of poetry by someone who uses rhythm in a way that you like. That brand of comedy, you might think, can only seem superficial by comparison with poetry. And it's huge.) People understand poems differently. Books : Reddit's book club. That’s so beautiful, and I think we would all do well to learn from each other. Start talking about iambic pentameter or dactylic trimeter and you’ll often reduce a … In any case, before you write, you need a solid understanding of the poem or poems you’ll be analyzing. Go on a personal quest to find it. You have to engage your feelings when you read a poem or you haven’t read the poem. Literature (/r/literature): Like Books but with a focus on "deeper discussions of plays, poetry, short stories, and novels." Talk about books you've read! Read poetry for inspiration. I often feel something more that happy, sad, or angry. Due to my upbringing, I've learned to bottle most emotion - that doesn't mean I don't feel. (No seriously, they have their own book club you can join. This handout will help you break down a poem into its key elements and get you started on writing a thesis. A lot of the poems you come across don’t grab your attention. Chicago, Illinois, United States About Blog The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. A poem is first and foremost an expression of emotion. The more poetry you read, the more exposure you will have to different ways of incorporating rhythm, and this will help you to develop as a writer. Before you break the poem apart, identify its basic content. But if you look hard enough, you will discover good poetry that you will fall in love with. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. Summarize. Whether the poet is in the room or not, you, as the reader and interpreter of the poem, can contribute to the poem. Read poetry: Too many young and new poets don’t read poetry. It’s also one of the chief reasons people believe poetry is difficult. Reading poetry is not simply about understanding the rhyme scheme of an Alexandrian sonnet or being able to write a paper on the theological conceits of the metaphysical poets. Especially great if you're into literary criticism, history and theory. The Poetry Foundation's literary blog for poetry and related poetry news. In my opinion, feelings are often abstractions. Critiquing poetry is about understanding and analyzing a poem.Once you've come to an understanding of the meaning of the poem, you can begin to respond to it. I find that usually this is a case of, "When you're a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." Metrics (the language of poetic rhythm) can add rich new layers to our understanding of poetry. I get it. 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