I love writing but hate poetry, how can I learn to appreciate it?

Question

I love music and lyrics, but i have always been put off by poetry and the elitists who understand it as well as all those people who think they are poets and their work just stinks. what are the core components to appreciating simplicity of words and their concepts?

Answer 1

I think poetry expresses experience rather than a story, which turns many people off.  It is a more honest medium, and it often doesn't use traditional elements found in literature: plot, setting, etc.  The best way to think of poetry is simple: poetry is "the best words in the best order."

There are all sorts of poets, so it's sometimes difficult to distinguish the elements that make a poem "good."  I always loved poetry, but that was because I started reading it from a young age.  Most people don't really encounter poetry until their school years, and most teachers tend to shove it down their throats, which makes it frustrating and difficult to understand.

If you want to have a better understanding and appreciation of poetry, you should try reading Laurence Perrine's book Sound and Sense.  Perrine's main point in his book is that poetry is meant to be enjoyed, and the work is not pretentious as most books on poetry tend to be.  He also discusses major elements of poetry and provides examples in the text.  Reading his book will help you to better understand and analyze poetry.

Another great technique is reading.  Find a few poetry anthologies from your library: modern verse, classic poems, comic verse, etc.  The more you read, the more you'll understand what makes a great poem great, and you'll have a better understanding of why people read and write poetry.

Answer 2

Well, I think it starts by reading a lot of different poetry and not worrying about the "elitist" thing.  I took a poetry workshop in college that was required for my creative writing major and I went into it with dread thinking that I was never going to be able to live up to my fellow "poetry loving" classmates, but really that wasn't the case.  It's true that a lot of poets seem to run in the same circles and that's kind of how the "elitist" thing has been perpetuated but really, even in university programs, the range of people writing poetry is immense from common prose loving folk like me to the stoner next door who's always writing some strange set of lyrics.

Poetry is supposed to be about he most honest form of writing and, honestly, if I don't get a poem, then I put it aside and read until I find something I do understand.  If it's so far above your head then it's probably not good poetry at all but just someone attempting to pass it off as such and getting away with it because no one but the poet gets it.

I would recommend finding some collections of poetry like the "Best of" volumes that seem to come out all the time.  Chances are there's something in there you'd like.  Or, some of my favorites are the Billy Collins edited collections called Poetry 180 and its follow up 180 More.  You can browse through both books easily and a lot of what's in those books are actually understandable poems and not "elitist" or stinky writing.

You're not going to appreciate poetry right away.  It's something that takes work.  And you may actually never come to appreciate it at all.  It also helps when you figure out that poetry can work a lot like prose when writing it too.  I haven't actually written any prose in the last two months outside of letters and journal entries.  A lot of the mechanical things you use when writing a story come into the writing of poetry.  It's just usually more succinct and occasionally a lot more metaphorical in terms of wording.

Answer 3

i have a hard time writing poetry( but not books and songs)but the way i learned to write poetry more appriciative is that i write about things i like and what they r doing but im not a big fan of poetry!!!

Answer 4

Most music and lyrics are poetry....read the lyrics to your favorite song....Read poetry books....Figure out what type of poem you like, and read, read, read...you will learn to love poetry.

Answer 5

well maybe your a "Short Story" kinda person. . .anyway, maybe its the people that brag and talk big about there poetry that really makes you not like it. I guess you just have to find your 'style' of poetry.

It goes like that some times, you don't like all the poetry you read then BAM! you find a style that really reaches out to you.

Sorry if this isn't what you meant, but I hope I helped=)

Answer 6

Get a copy of Robert W service, he may be able to help you