01-10-2026, 11:57 PM
What is the perfect length for a poem?
I have never made it all the way through Paradise Lost even though I have tried a dozen or so more times. For me, a poem should be digested in one reading because I need to mentally connect the words/allusions/metaphors throughout. Recently when we were discussing The Darkling Thrush and Ode to a Nightingale, I went back and re-read both and I had to restart the Nightingale poem a couple times to refresh some of the early language in my mind. The Darkling Thrush felt almost the perfect length when reading it. Long enough to be satisfying but short enough to be digested as a complete thought.
Short poetry has also never really resonated with me. I try to comment when I can but it has never really been my thing. I read some short poetry but rarely re-read it.
Eliot separated The Waste Land in to multiple sections which makes it easier to digest each section and then consider it against the whole.
Is there a perfect length for poetry for you?
Thanks
I have never made it all the way through Paradise Lost even though I have tried a dozen or so more times. For me, a poem should be digested in one reading because I need to mentally connect the words/allusions/metaphors throughout. Recently when we were discussing The Darkling Thrush and Ode to a Nightingale, I went back and re-read both and I had to restart the Nightingale poem a couple times to refresh some of the early language in my mind. The Darkling Thrush felt almost the perfect length when reading it. Long enough to be satisfying but short enough to be digested as a complete thought.
Short poetry has also never really resonated with me. I try to comment when I can but it has never really been my thing. I read some short poetry but rarely re-read it.
Eliot separated The Waste Land in to multiple sections which makes it easier to digest each section and then consider it against the whole.
Is there a perfect length for poetry for you?
Thanks