How not to read poetry

Around 10,100 poet­ry books are pub­lished, and over three mil­lion copies are sold every year in the USA, yet only 11.7% of US cit­i­zens read those books. The num­ber of read­ers is rapid­ly increas­ing with inter­net and dig­i­tal audio avail­abil­i­ty, but it still remains a small per­cent­age of the population. 

I had a pro­fes­sor who was fond of say­ing, “Poetry is a gift. That’s why you can’t sell it.” Why is this so?

Reading poet­ry can be a daunt­ing task for many peo­ple. Some may feel intim­i­dat­ed by the dense lan­guage and com­plex themes, while oth­ers may strug­gle to con­nect with the emo­tions and ideas expressed by the poet. However, there are cer­tain com­mon approach­es to read­ing poet­ry that can actu­al­ly hin­der our under­stand­ing and appre­ci­a­tion of the art form. Here are a few ways to “not” read poetry:

1. Don’t rush through it. Poetry demands time and atten­tion, so try not to skim over the words or rush to the end. Take your time to savor each line and let the lan­guage wash over you. Don’t guz­zle it with your cof­fee; sip it with your casu­al, Sunday morn­ing tea. Give it time to unfold its blossoms.
2. Don’t try to decode every sin­gle word or phrase. While it is impor­tant to under­stand the gen­er­al mean­ing of the poem, don’t get bogged down in try­ing to deci­pher every sin­gle metaphor or allu­sion. Instead, focus on the over­all mood and tone. The author does not expect every­one to be so well edu­cat­ed in Greek mythol­o­gy, Chinese cer­e­monies, Canadian his­to­ry, etc., to pick up on every sub­tle ref­er­ence – those are just lit­tle Easter eggs for the deep­er enjoy­ment of those who do.
3. Don’t impose your own mean­ing onto the poem. While poet­ry can be open to inter­pre­ta­tion, it’s impor­tant to let the poem speak for itself. Avoid forc­ing your own beliefs or assump­tions onto the text. Pay atten­tion to the thoughts and feel­ings the poem caus­es to res­onate with­in your­self. The authors knew that you would not under­stand it in the exact same way they felt when writ­ing it. The poem is a thing in itself, prob­a­bly more like opera than any oth­er art form – it is feel­ing and emo­tion, and it doesn’t real­ly mat­ter if you under­stand the language.
4. Don’t ignore the sounds and rhythms of the poem. Almost every child has enjoyed the silli­ness and sing-song rhythm of nurs­ery rhymes, even before they knew the mean­ings of their words. Pay atten­tion to the way the words flow and the sounds they cre­ate, and even the tex­tured feel of the words. This can add a whole new lay­er of enjoy­ment to the poem.

By avoid­ing these com­mon pit­falls, you can approach poet­ry with an open mind and a will­ing­ness to explore the beau­ty and com­plex­i­ty of the art form. Do you need a place to start?

Here is a list of the ten best-sell­ing poets in the world:

• William Shakespeare — Estimated 4 bil­lion copies sold worldwide
• Lao Tzu — Estimated 1.25 bil­lion copies sold worldwide
• Rabindranath Tagore — Estimated 1 bil­lion copies sold worldwide
• Rumi — Estimated 500 mil­lion copies sold worldwide
• Homer — Estimated 500 mil­lion copies sold worldwide
• Khalil Gibran — Estimated 128 mil­lion copies sold worldwide
• Edgar Allan Poe — Estimated 100 mil­lion copies sold worldwide
• Maya Angelou — Estimated 10 mil­lion copies sold worldwide
• Robert Frost — Estimated 10 mil­lion copies sold worldwide
• Langston Hughes — Estimated 2 mil­lion copies sold worldwide

The top ten best-sell­ing poets in the USA are Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Shel Silverstein, Billy Collins, Mary Oliver, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Robert Pinsky.