Questions for Poetry Fans

[ysabetwordsmith]

Reading a poem is a participatory experience. It's not like watching television where you just sit there and passively absorb the broadcast. Good poetry makes you think. It raises questions.

What kind of questions? I'm glad you asked! Here are some examples of questions that you might ask yourself while reading a poem, or while discussing poetry in general. Feel free to use these as a jumping-off point for comments on this post or on individual poems posted to this community.


For Poetry in General

• What is poetry?
• What do you think poetry can do better than prose, or vice versa?
• Which poetic techniques do you like or dislike?
• Which poetic forms do you enjoy reading?
• Have you read poems by people very different from yourself (another religion, ethnicity, sex, etc.)?
• When did you get interested in poetry?
• Have you tried writing poetry, or do you prefer to read someone else's poetry?
• What do you think about the state of poetry in today's world?
• Do you feel that the publishing industry is doing right by poetry today? Why or why not?
• How do you feel about poetry online?

For a Specific Poem

• What does the title tell you about the poem?
• What is the form of this poem? What are some of your favorite forms?
• Who is telling the story here? What does that voice sound like?
• How does the poet set the scene and the mood?
• Which techniques can you identify -- rhyme, meter, alliteration, metaphor, etc.?
• Can you spot any hidden symbolism or other 'eastereggs' in the poem?
• How straightforward or mysterious is this poem? Which do you prefer, and why?
• How does the poem make you feel? What words or phrases evoke that emotion?
• What is your favorite line or verse?
• What is the poem about? What message(s) does it send?

No doubt you can think of some more questions for exploring poetry.  Share them in a comment, or make a post of your own if you want to go longer.

Further Reading
"Analyzing Poetry"
"How to Read a Poem"
"Questions to Consider When Reading Each Poem"

Comments

[jjhunter]

What words jump out at you? What would happen if you changed a particular word to one of its synonyms?

One of the things I love about poetry is the care with which poets generally choose their words, and how even just one word can be like the keystone in an arch or a rock in a stream, changing or shaping the flow of the meaning in a very specific way.

Do you have favorite words or favorite kinds of words to use or find when writing or reading poetry?

For example, one of my friends is particularly enamored with 'gl' words describing light/effects of light: glow, glitter, glisten, gleam, glimmer, glint, glossy, gloom, and so on and so forth.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I have a 45,000 word vocabulary, and I'm not afraid to use it. I collect weird-word dictionaries. Online I'm a fan of Forthright's Phrontistery:
http://phrontistery.info/

I love unusual words for colors. I've written a series of science fiction poems that use lots of different synonyms for a given color. Government names are fun, too; "The Ocracies" series is based on a fantasy setting with a zillion little polities each having a different form of government.

The fun thing is that if you do it just right, readers will learn a new word and its meaning, which will stick with them. There are writers I read because I can reliably get a new word from them in each new book. Some of my readers like my writing for similar reasons.

Re: Yes...

[jjhunter]

Heh; I take it you've been to testyourvocab.com as well.

Forthright's Phrontistery looks neat! I was a bit disappointed not to find a page dedicated to names of groups of things, especially animals, since I've been specifically looking for such a resource, but what it has it has most wonderfully. (I love such names: 'murder of crows' sends a shiver down my back, and 'gaggle of geese' makes me giggle.)

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I have, although the actual quote is from a button. I also have the t-shirt "English doesn't borrow words from other languages. English follows other languages into dark alleys, knocks them down, and rifles their pockets for loose grammar."

>>I was a bit disappointed not to find a page dedicated to names of groups of things, especially animals, since I've been specifically looking for such a resource, but what it has it has most wonderfully. <<

I love those too. I recommend:
http://www.amazon.com/Exaltation-Larks-Ultimate-James-Lipton/dp/0140170960

http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/collectives.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_names

Among my favorites are "aurora of polar bears" and "conflagration of dragons." I came up with "mosaic of butterflies" in a poem.

Re: Yes...

[jjhunter]

The guy who coined that phrase is on DW, by and by: james_davis_nicoll:

Back in 1990, I made this comment:

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

* Usenet article <1990May15.155309.8892@watdragon.waterloo.edu> (1990),

Much to my surprise, that was my fifteen minutes of fame. It's been quoted around the world, on BBC and in Chinese ESL texts. Most of the products with that phrase on it or a paraphrase have nothing to do with me and I don't see a penny from them. The sole source of such goods actually connected to me is my cafepress site.

I'm rather fond of Bruce Coville's 'glory of unicorns' myself. :o) Thanks for the references!

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad I could help.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

I admit to moments of glee when I write a poem that allows me to allude to some other work.

To date, nobody has commented on those easter eggs, though. Perhaps my references are too obscure. :)

[jjhunter]

Me too--it's like joining a broader conversation. A single line or phrase can call up this whole other set of resonances and contexts. The tricky bit is making the poem still be accessible to those who aren't familiar with the references.

Do you ever consider writing a note or two re: more obscure references & sticking them under a cut tag at the bottom of a particular poem post? I'm in that habit over at dreamwidth_haikai, but I don't do it very often outside that context.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Me too--it's like joining a broader conversation. A single line or phrase can call up this whole other set of resonances and contexts. <<

Yes. It works two ways: evoking the familiar if the audience already knows it, or giving a glimpse of something new if they don't.

>>The tricky bit is making the poem still be accessible to those who aren't familiar with the references.<<

There's an amusing divergence between Eastern and Western thought here. Western custom is to cite sources. Eastern custom is to insert uncited quotes from certain sources that "Everyone Knows" such as the sayings of Confucius.

>>Do you ever consider writing a note or two re: more obscure references & sticking them under a cut tag at the bottom of a particular poem post?<<

I do include notes, whenever there's an important reference that people might not get. Sometimes it goes at the top, if it's not spoilery. If it's spoilery or will make more sense after the poem has been read, it goes at the bottom. Reading through Fiorenza the Wisewoman or the Origami Mage will show you some examples of my notes; those are both prone to cultural tidbits that benefit from explanation.

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Maybe try talking about the references some time after a poem has been published? If you show your audience that you're hiding eastereggs, they may get more active in looking for those.

[syntaxofthings]

Considering that people have to actively work to get poetry in their lives—first, by making a decision to learn about poetry enough to enjoy it and second, to seek it out—I'd say that the state of poetry is not that great. It's not out there in the mainstream, so people who are interested have to work pretty hard to find what they like and don't like. It makes it frustrating to want to learn more about poetry, but not really have the resources.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>It's not out there in the mainstream, so people who are interested have to work pretty hard to find what they like and don't like.<<

That's one reason why I try to put some of mine out in places that are easy to find. Still not exactly mainstream, because I'm not mainstream myself, but at least more accessible. So for instance, we donated a copy of my book From Nature's Patient Hands: A Collection of Poetry to our local nature center. I'm also in favor of programs that put poems on billboards, the sides of buses, etc.

>>It makes it frustrating to want to learn more about poetry, but not really have the resources.<<

Too true. One can make a good start with an anthology or two and a decent guidebook about poetry; it's finding a guidebook worth having that's the challenge. Some poetry sites online have good general information about poetry, but there's not a lot on "how to learn to understand poetry."

That's one reason why I write about poetry online sometimes. I've done posts on how to recognize bad poetry, how to edit poetry, etc. when I spot a gap.

Re: Yes...

[syntaxofthings]

I'm also in favor of programs that put poems on billboards, the sides of buses, etc.

I love those programs, too! Actually one of my favorite things is that in the neighboring city they cemented short poems into the sidewalks. I really enjoy stopping for a moment to contemplate a poem on my way somewhere or another.

That's one reason why I write about poetry online sometimes. I've done posts on how to recognize bad poetry, how to edit poetry, etc. when I spot a gap.

That's good to hear - I'll have to read more of your blog/website when I have some time to learn a little more about poetry. I almost read a book on reading poetry once, but somehow never got to it before I had to get it back to the library. I read a lot more novels than poetry right now.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Actually one of my favorite things is that in the neighboring city they cemented short poems into the sidewalks.<<

That's an awesome idea!

>>I'll have to read more of your blog/website when I have some time to learn a little more about poetry.<<

Look in my Memories file for posts about poetry:
http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=ysabetwordsmith&keyword=poetry&filter=all

Click the "poem" tag in my sidebar to read individual poems. I have hundreds posted:
http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/tag/poem

Re: Yes...

[syntaxofthings]

Thanks! I'll poke around.

[jjhunter]

I hope poetree proves both a resource and a community for you! It's wonderful to have you here. :o)

[syntaxofthings]

Thank you! I am really enjoying the discussion of poetry so far. =) I was just told yesterday that joining communities are a good way to make friends, so I'm trying to make an extra effort here to engage with the posters and the works. Mostly because I think it's a really good idea for a community!

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I am really enjoying the discussion of poetry so far.<<

I'm happy to hear this.

>>I was just told yesterday that joining communities are a good way to make friends, so I'm trying to make an extra effort here to engage with the posters and the works. <<

Yes, that's effective advice. I occasionally look a a community's profile and visit the blogs of other members to see if I want to friend any of them.