Comments on: Poetry illiterate

By: pearl necklace

pearl necklace — Fri, 10 Oct 2003 23:43:35 +0000

Some poetry sounds beautiful but I just don’t get it!

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 09 May 2003 15:36:28 +0000

Lizzie writes, quoting our host, ‘As to “why all these men (and women) are circling Millay, desperately in love with her, while she doesn’t return their feelings and is always on to her next conquest”, well, that kind of glamorous, unavailable person is very attractive to some of us.’ Well put. Same applys to poetry, methinks. (Perhaps that was a comparison she was already making?)

As someone who does enjoy poetry but to whom appreciation didn’t come readily (and I still don’t like or “get” most anthologized poems and doubt I ever will and think “c’est la vie”), I often find the apparent impenatrableness of certain lines to be the most exciting parts of an otherwise evocative poem. I keep going back to them, thirsty. More often than not, given enough readings and time, much of that thirst is quenched. And we all know how good water tastes when you’re thirsty.

By: Elise

Elise — Tue, 06 May 2003 18:01:46 +0000

I totallly agree with your stand on poetry. I’ve never really seen the point of it either. Personally, I find it much easier to write a story, or a letter (or something) to get my feelings out. However, most poets seem to be very interesting people and I really immensely enjoyed a biographical book that I had to read on Millay for an English paper. (I didn’t enjoy writing the paper so much!) She was a very fascinating lady and this book written on her called, “What lips my Lips have Kissed” is very well written. I highly reccomend it, (sorry I can’t remeber the author!)

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 03 Feb 2003 21:09:20 +0000

I forgot to add: clearly women like Edna St. Vincent Millay interest and fascinate me — why else pick up their bio when I know nothing else about them?

By: Lizzie

Lizzie — Mon, 03 Feb 2003 20:15:55 +0000

I started this book over the weekend and am really enjoying it. What an amazing person.

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 03 Feb 2003 06:49:59 +0000

I couldn’t think of any poetry I liked right off, but then I thought of one of the books I read to Sophia before bed: Polka Bats and Octopus Slacks by Calef Brown. There is some great stuff in there, like “Funky Snowman”:

Funky Snowman loves to dance
You’d think he wouldn’t have much chance
without two legs
or even pants.
Does that stop Funky Snowman?
No!!
Turn up the music with the disco beat,
when you’re in the groove, you don’t need feet.
Crowds come out and fill the street.
Kick it, Funky Snowman!!

Okay, it’s not deep. But I love it. I can just hear the rhythms of how you’re supposed to say it.

By: Lizzie

Lizzie — Fri, 31 Jan 2003 00:15:16 +0000

I’m poetry-illiterate too. I don’t see the point; I get frustrated because I can’t understand it. I’d rather read a straightforward essay or memoir where things are spelled out.

I remember going through an Anne Sexton poem with a friend who was trying to help me appreciate it. I just felt like if I don’t even understand who she’s talking about or what happened, what’s the point? What can I get out of it? I couldn’t even understand what she got out of it.

Incidentally I have that book ready to be read – even if I don’t like poetry, it sounds like an interesting biography, and I liked Milford’s book about Zelda Fitzgerald. As to “why all these men (and women) are circling Millay, desperately in love with her, while she doesn’t return their feelings and is always on to her next conquest”, well, that kind of glamorous, unavailable person is very attractive to some of us. Maybe you either get it or you don’t.

Sally, what a great story!

By: hanna

hanna — Thu, 30 Jan 2003 22:54:44 +0000

Highly recommend Billy Collins (our Poet Laureate) for intro to poetry(www.billycollins.com). Hearing poetry read aloud adds an important dimension. Try his CD “The Best Cigarette”.

And “Good Poems” by Garrison – he reads a lot of them on The Writer’s Almanac.

By: Sally

Sally — Wed, 29 Jan 2003 01:45:31 +0000

I was visiting my 97 year old Scots grandmother in her very nice assistedliving apartment palace and we walked by the library. I had just finished SAVAGE BEAUTY and recommended it. “Oh, I saw her,” my grandmother said. “Nancy Milford?” I asked. “No, Millay,” she said. Unbelievable — sometime in the 20s, my grandmother went to a poetry reading in the big auditorium in Worcester MA. And my grandmother, who is impressed by nothing and no one got this rapturous tone in her voice when I asked how the reading was. “She was wonderful,” she told me. “And she had this bright red hair. She was JUST WONDERFUL.” And I got a sense of the charisma at that point — duende so imperishable it wafted past seven decades. Here’s a ? for your journal — in whose presence have you sensed that special immortal genius for personality?

By: language hat

language hat — Tue, 28 Jan 2003 19:58:31 +0000

1) Her friends and family called her “Vincent” (who knows why); I suppose you might refer to her that way when dealing with her personal life and as “Millay” when discussing her writing, but why “Edna”? Anyway, I haven’t read the book, so I’m just guessing.

2) Do you like any kind of poetry? Limericks, nursery rhymes, anything? If so, then you may just not have run across the right “serious” poet who would unlock that particular wing of the House of Lit for you; if not, well, you just don’t like poetry. Hey, I don’t like dance/ballet. We all have our blind spots.