How to Read a Poem

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word go truth. 2 Timothy, KJV
You must know how to read a poem in order to understand and appreciate it.

1. Read a poem more than one time.

2. Keep a dictionary nearby and use it. Also have a good mythology book and the Bible.

3. Read to hear the sounds in your mind.

4. Pay careful attention to what the poem is saying.

5. Practice reading aloud, careful not to go too fast or too slow.

6. Pay attention to punctuation.

Ask Yourself-

Who is the speaker and what is the occasion?

 

What is the central purpose of the poem?

Does it tell a story?

Reveal a human character?

Express a mood or emotion?

Convey an idea or attitude?

 

By what means is that purpose achieved?

 

Another way to understand a poem is to PARAPHRASE a poem in prose making it as plain as possible.

The Poem:

A Rose

Have you ever noticed how fast

a rose dies?

In its youth it is like an adult in miniature.

The span of its life only a

few short days.

Yet its simple beauty casts

a magic spell.

Then, like greying temples

old age strikes its mature form

with brown edges

and finally wrinkled and

spent its petals fall

limb from limb.

© 1975 Darlo Gemeinhardt

 

The Prose Version:

Looking at a rosebud is like looking at a miniature rose. When it matures it opens out into a full blown rose whose beauty is fleeting, lasting only a few days before it starts to wither and the petals drop one by one. We can compare it to our life which is swiftly over as we age from youth to adult.

 

Try rewriting some of your own poems or select a few famous ones and see what you can do converting them to prose. Have fun.

 

__________________

Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense, Laurence Perrine, (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World Inc., 1970) pp. 533-549

Darlo Gemeinhardt  writes MG novels and the occasional poem.

She spends a good portion if each day taking care

of twenty-five dogs. That’s why she believes, “There’s

a Story in Every Dog.”

www.fromthedogpen.com