09-13-2016, 05:54 AM
Andrey,
If a person came to you and said, "Andrey, I want to learn how to like music, but I just don't think it is for me. Please convince me that I do like music." Would you hand them a book on music theory and argue with them about all the intricate details of music composition? Or would you play for them all the best music from every genre, and let that person discover through personal experience that music is delightful, and which type of music they like best? If the person said to you, "oh I listened to rock and roll one time. Music is terrible. It is loud and hurts my ears, how can you even think it is a thing of beauty?" You would think that person a simpleton, for how can they dismiss all music based on one or two songs from one or two genres? Have they even tried Beethoven or Chopin? Have they allowed Bach the chance? This is how you are treating poetry. You want an argument to explain to you why it is beautiful. You cannot argue a person into understanding the beauty of either music or of poetry. They experience it, and they either find it beautiful or they don't. That is all there is.
You will never learn to like poetry, or whether you even can like it, by arguing the whys and wherefores. This is madness and will give you no answers. Stop arguing, go forth and read poetry. Read modern poetry. Read ancient poetry. Read humor, read tragedy, read whimsy. Perhaps poetry is not for you, but perhaps it is. Give it a fair chance. Do not begin a quest for flaws, begin a quest for beauty. Tell yourself that you will read all the different types of poetry that you can find until you are able to find ONE poem that you do like. When you find one poem you like, one poem that moves something in you, that you can say, "now that is a thing of beauty, I would not have said it any other way" then you may return and discuss poetry. If you read 1000 poems and cannot find a single one with a single thing to like, then poetry is not for you and there is no amount of arguing or explaining that can ever change that.
Please stop trying to understand beauty through argument. That is not how beauty is conveyed. I realize you will feel inclined to argue with me on some small point of what I have said. I will not respond. I am right. Now go, your homework is to find one poem that you truly love. Your arguments have no weight if you cannot.
If a person came to you and said, "Andrey, I want to learn how to like music, but I just don't think it is for me. Please convince me that I do like music." Would you hand them a book on music theory and argue with them about all the intricate details of music composition? Or would you play for them all the best music from every genre, and let that person discover through personal experience that music is delightful, and which type of music they like best? If the person said to you, "oh I listened to rock and roll one time. Music is terrible. It is loud and hurts my ears, how can you even think it is a thing of beauty?" You would think that person a simpleton, for how can they dismiss all music based on one or two songs from one or two genres? Have they even tried Beethoven or Chopin? Have they allowed Bach the chance? This is how you are treating poetry. You want an argument to explain to you why it is beautiful. You cannot argue a person into understanding the beauty of either music or of poetry. They experience it, and they either find it beautiful or they don't. That is all there is.
You will never learn to like poetry, or whether you even can like it, by arguing the whys and wherefores. This is madness and will give you no answers. Stop arguing, go forth and read poetry. Read modern poetry. Read ancient poetry. Read humor, read tragedy, read whimsy. Perhaps poetry is not for you, but perhaps it is. Give it a fair chance. Do not begin a quest for flaws, begin a quest for beauty. Tell yourself that you will read all the different types of poetry that you can find until you are able to find ONE poem that you do like. When you find one poem you like, one poem that moves something in you, that you can say, "now that is a thing of beauty, I would not have said it any other way" then you may return and discuss poetry. If you read 1000 poems and cannot find a single one with a single thing to like, then poetry is not for you and there is no amount of arguing or explaining that can ever change that.
Please stop trying to understand beauty through argument. That is not how beauty is conveyed. I realize you will feel inclined to argue with me on some small point of what I have said. I will not respond. I am right. Now go, your homework is to find one poem that you truly love. Your arguments have no weight if you cannot.
The Soufflé isn’t the soufflé; the soufflé is the recipe. --Clara