Reading in Public No. 36: Three reasons to read poetry
Plus tips and resources to help you actually enjoy it
It’s National Poetry Month, and now that I’m out of the classroom, I can’t say I fully partake. I like poetry; I just never seem to sit down to read it. I’d like to make a pledge to change that, but truthfully announcing my reading intentions seems to be a sure fire way to not meet my goals. So instead, I’m sharing three reasons I have loved and appreciated reading poetry in the past, in the hopes it will inspire and remind me to pick it up in the future.
Three reasons to read poetry:
It develops an appreciation for words. Poets are linguistic masters. They know better than almost anyone how important word choice is and how a single word carries meaning that is simultaneously specific and singular and personal and archetypal. Terms like “diction” and “connotation” may give you unwanted flashbacks to high school English, but beyond the jargon these terms suggest that words matter—they carry with them a depth of meaning that goes far beyond what any dictionary can tell us and these cultural, subconsciously understood meanings have power. This is important in poetry, yes, but it’s also important in life. Appreciating and acknowledging the power of a word matters in politics and relationships and how we behave towards our fellow people. Reading poetry can help us access that depth of language and harness it for ourselves.
It can teach you to read more closely. I love close reading, but it is difficult to dig so deeply into an entire novel. Reading poetry can be a way to exercise that part of your brain, to consider text and subtext, figurative language, symbolism, and emotional resonance. Tapping into this part of our brains is good for us. It allows us to practice critical thinking and interpretive skills that are valuable in and of themselves but can also be applied to the world outside the poem, whether than means a novel, an album, or an argument.
You might find your poem. I think of poetry like I think about visual art. The more I learn (which isn’t much!), the more I can appreciate what various painters and sculptors are doing with their work. But that doesn’t impact what pieces of art viscerally move me. That’s outside of my control and outside of my intellect. Poetry is the same to me. Unpacking or close reading a poem can certainly teach me a lot about words and language, and that kind of reading may allow me to understand and appreciate a poem. But the poems that I love best are the ones that hit me in my feelings for no explicable reason. Not every poem can or should do this for every reader, but the more poetry we read, the more likely we are to find the poems that feel like ours.
Resources for a better poetry experience:
I shared my own poetry reading strategies last April for National Poetry Month:
Poetry Unbound is a book, podcast, and Substack that helps readers get more out of poems.
Poem-a-Day is an email subscription that delivers a wide-range of poems straight to your inbox.
Poetry 180 is intended for students, but it has great information on how to read a poem alongside 180 poems hand-selected by former Poet Laureate Billy Collins.
The Library of Congress’ Favorite Poems Project is the embodiment of point number 3 above. It’s a gallery of videos featuring regular Americans reading and talking about their favorite poems. It’s absolutely delightful.
If you’re interested in writing poetry, you can stay accountable with the National Poetry Writing Month organization.
Poetry Foundation has a section of their website specifically for adults who want to gain a deeper knowledge of poetry. It has articles about poetry along with suggested poems.
Edward Hirsch’s “How to Read a Poem” is very comprehensive, and because it’s divided into mini-lessons, it’s also very easy to navigate and take what you need.
For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!
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-Sara
I tell fellow preachers (and all kinds of writers / communicators) to read more poetry because of the way it can show us the power of the *exact* right word / phrase. It teaches us about the power of brevity and precision in artful language. 💛