Andrey's questions about poems (split from the intro thread)

[AndreyGaganov]

I'm an imagery girl myself. Rich metaphor and simile -- that's what does it for me. I know others that are about the sounds primarily and the content second. I'm all about the visual that I can create in my mind. What's challenging and amazing about poetry is it's ability to conjure scenes and evoke emotion with so few words. And, actually, I think the fewer words the better. More active involvement on the part of the reader is required to fill in the details than with a story that's all spelled out for you.

I see. So, would you say that one could draw a handful of comparisons between the landscape of poetry and the landscape of music ? E.g., different readers/reciters/listeners look for different things in poetry, and that it's all relative? There are no prerequisites to reading/listening to poetry? That you have to find the right poem that will ignite some kind of a spark within you (without going through the trouble of being educated with literary devices and such)? That perhaps there is a certain kind of poetic movement (and not all movements) that's right for you?

Yes, I do think that you need to find the right author and the right poems that speak to you. On average, I'd say that I love maybe about 1 in every 30 to 40 poems that I read. I like most poems I read, and can appreciate them through my knowledge of literary devices, but to really love something....it's individual taste, yes.

From a couple of things that you're saying, it seems like you might be expecting too ecstatic of an experience from poetry. Certainly, some poems have taken me there, but most just bring amusement, mild pleasure, interesting thoughts, simmering feelings of all flavors. I wouldn't worry too much if you're not transported by everything you read. If someone else loves a poem, that's them not you. One would hope that you'd learn to appreciate almost all good poetry, but it seems like you're really looking to make a love connection.

It'll take time and lots of reading. There's so much out there.

If I were you, I'd start with the "Poems you love" thread here -- there's lots of great stuff in there.

I mean, people say that Wagner is the bee's knees, but I never cared for him. Now Chopin, I've tried to raise him from the dead a few times.

You hit it on the nail when you touched on the 'ecstasy' aspect of it. As someone who's spend 12 years of his life listening to music (a practice that has no rules and calls for no prerequisites), that long period of time I was mostly capable of drawing pleasure from the timbre (quality of sound) of instruments and voices. Ostensibly, I don't get the same kind of angle with poetry ... so far. 

Certainly, some poems have taken me there, but most just bring amusement, mild pleasure, interesting thoughts, simmering feelings of all flavors.

As you've pointed out, my expectations are beyond just receiving mild pleasure. As I said a couple of times before, I have my own expectations of poetry, like learning/understanding an original and profound idea, though, as I understand, this has to change ... somehow. 

I'm just looking for the kinds of poems that can dignify poetry in ways that prose can't be, and justify the attempts to differentiate poetry from prose beyond mere concision and the not-so-blissful music of words.