I have never understood what is the appeal of poetry. To me, it is just pretentious prose. In the time it takes for me to decipher the meaning of a stanza, I could read a few pages from a normal book and get more of out of it. I am not saying I am right, quite honestly, I think I am in the wrong, but this is why I have come forth to ask why is poetry so appreciated. Is it the subjectivity factor that comes into play? The artistic way in which an author expresses his or her views on life with the help of figures of speech? The way one can express such feelings in a structured and planned way with a rhythm and rhymes (which is some even lack), or am I missing the forrest for the trees?
I used to think the same way. I too thought I must be wrong. The truth is that one day it will "click", you'll read a poem that hits a nerve and you won't look back. I bought my fiance this Everyman's Library collection of cat poems, thinking it was cute. She asked me to read a few out loud to her so i did. Most of them were just funny, and a few were a little sad. But then, out if nowhere, one of them got me so choked up I couldn't finish reading it. It was a strange moment, but since then I've been giving poetry a real chance. A fucking cat poem opened my eyes.
Henry Peterson
So it just takes the right poem at the right time. Then, I shall keep an open mind for when that time finally arrives. Thank you.
Gabriel Thompson
Why do you think that you could get more out of a few pages of a book than a stanza of poetry?
Lincoln Allen
Just watch television and do what you're told
Jose Miller
Can there not be more information on 2 pages than there is in a stanza?
Julian Peterson
It is quite likely. But the opposite is also possible. Also in terms of content 2 pages are likely to hold several relatively simple concepts that are related. A stanza is likely to hold a single highly complex concept. Both have their appeal.
Daniel Powell
Art isn't about the exchange of information. If that's how you approach art, it's no wonder you can't enjoy poetry. Poetry is somewhere between music and prose. Its sound matters a lot (rhyme, stress, alliteration etc) so you should read it with a clear voice in your head or aloud. It is a very sensual experience and you have to "feel" the poem, above all. Keep looking for that "one" poem and you'll understand when you find it. Btw, don't you enjoy the lyrics of the songs you listen to?
Julian Sanchez
Try to think about information in a more abstract way.
Isaiah Lopez
What was the eye opening cat poem?
Nathan Sanders
I like that poetry is condensed. It's stimulating, and leaves more to the imagination (generally speaking). In a way, by being less explicit, it is more vivid. Prose can be too obvious.
Mason Perry
I listen to instrumental music. Vocals are a distraction from musicianship.
Connor Foster
Read more poetry, and read it out loud: try to listen to it as music with words overlaid to start with. You could even read nonsense poems to get a feel for how much 'sense' there actually is in just the rhythm and meter of poetry. Something else to do later is to try write your own poetry, always comparing it to your favourite poems by other people - then you'll see just how difficult it is to do, how incredible a good poem can be from the artists perspective, and most importantly just how felicitous certain phrases are. That is, how wonderful it is that certain beautiful sounds matched together also mean a certain thing, and that this medley of rhythm, tone and sense is all coherent to you and is mutually complimentary. Finally, just think of poetry as speech that sticks in your mind - any beautiful phrase from a prose passage that sticks with you is poetry, anything you read or hear in the media can be poetry, bob dylan won a nobel prize for writing song lyrics that other people rightly consider poetry etc Hope that helps
Jordan Reed
You sound like you're autistic in the non-memey sense of the word (assuming you're the same user)
Hunter Wright
Here's a favorite of mine:
I Looked for Life and Did a Shadow See
ByJames Galvin
Some little splinter Of shadow purls And weals down The slewed stone Chapel steps, Slinks along The riverrock wall And disappears Into the light. Now ropy, riffled, Now owlish, sere, It smolders back To sight beneath A dwarfish, brindled tree That chimes and sifts And resurrects In something’s sweet And lethal breath. This little shadow Seems to know (How can it know? How can it not?) Just when to flinch Just where to loop and sag And skitter down, Just what to squirrel And what to squander till The light it lacks Bleeds it back And finds My sleeping dark-haired girl — O personal, Impersonal, Continual thrall — And hammocks blue In the hollows of her eyes.
>also Haiku can be good too. Here's one I wrote:
Eight legs and two fangs Eater of flesh; Death of worlds Silk wisp on my face
Luke Jackson
youtube.com/watch?v=ClSWxwwUYkw >dude lmao how can you listen to this haha it has no words you must be autistic Thank you for your authority on the matter. Not the same posters, btw.
Kevin Stewart
That's not what he's saying, idiot.
Isaac Bennett
>i listen to instrumental music >>you might be autistic What did xir mean by this?
Jack Robinson
not what he said, faggot different poster here by the way. you just have really stupid conceptions of art
Justin Ortiz
It wasn't "I listen to instrumental music" that seems autistic. It was "vocals are a distraction from musicianship" which is just inane.
Ryder Hernandez
What's a good poetry anthology to get started? Should I go with The Oxford Book of English Verse?
Anthony Wright
I cannot recommend Bloom's "The Best Poems of the English Language" highly enough. His selections are fantastic, and his introductions to each poet helped me understand how and why they are each so relevant and important. It's a little indecipherable at times, but that's just because I remain a pleb at heart.
Wyatt Garcia
will check it out, thanks user
Gabriel Ward
Is it possible to stop being scatty idiot by reading literature, language learning and programming?
