# Does anyone else just not get poetry? Anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155 "2004-09-04T23:25:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/1 "2004-09-04T23:25:39Z")
I’m think I’m an ignorant, undereducated boor. I just don’t get poetry. Never really have. Sure, I get little limericks that obviously and simply rhyme like “Roses are red, violets are blue…” or “Jack & Jill ran up the hill…” but when it comes to “real” poetry, well I’m lost. I consider myself fairly intelligent. I like art. Well, except pop art, which I also don’t get but that’s another thread. I can get subtlety, I can get “deep meaning.” But I just don’t get poetry. I have friends and they’re all “oh, I just read this really cool poem, let me read it to you.” so they do and I’m trying to suppress the eye rolls and pretend to listen intently & meaningfully, but what I’m thinking is, “uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” It just makes no sense. It means nothing. It’s just words. Sometimes they sound cool. But I get no meaning from it. What’s wrong with me? I see someone start a thread like, “Share your favorite poetry” and I’m like, "well, ok, I’ll give it _another_ shot & read it. Nothing. Is there anyone else here, anyone at all that feels the same way I do? Please? I don’t want to be the only ignorant boor on this board. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/2 "2004-09-04T23:31:40Z")
I’m not into most poetry, but sometimes I run across something that just knocks my socks off. So yes, it’s just you. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/3 "2004-09-04T23:37:39Z")
You are not alone. I feel exactly the same way and I’m ashamed about it. I don’t have any favourite poetry, I can’t distinguish bad poetry from good poetry and I have a very hard time figuring out the meaning of most poems even though I have no problems reading prose. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/4 "2004-09-04T23:50:52Z")
I’ve always said I have a tin ear for poetry. I can read a poem that most people feel is great and another that most people say is terrible and I honestly have to admit I can’t discern any difference in quality between them. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/5 "2004-09-04T23:54:41Z")
I’m sooo glad I’m not alone! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/6 "2004-09-04T23:58:48Z")
I’m not into most poetry but I really like some of it. I mean, how can someone \*NOT \*like _The Raven_ or _The Jabberwocky_? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/7 "2004-09-05T00:05:47Z")
I didn’t get anything but limericks or Ogden Nash until I took a required firstyear poetry class in college. Totally opened my ears. If you’re curious to find a way into poetry, why not look for a course like that? or start a reading group, and find a poet or someone knowledgeable to lead the group? Of, I’m sure there are decent books out there on the subject. There should be a _Poetry for Dummies_ book! ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/8 "2004-09-05T00:07:09Z")
. . . aaaaaand . . . [viola](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/fashion/05ROCK.html?8hpib)! ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/9 "2004-09-05T00:08:42Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Of, I’m sure there are decent books out there on the subject. There should be a Poetry for Dummies book! Yeah, they could like, call it, like, [Poetry for Dummies](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764552724/qid=1094342895/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-7197394-5588102?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). Yeah, that’d work. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/10 "2004-09-05T00:09:52Z")
A reader review. Some bigwigs in the “poetry world” dig it too. > [@](#): > > Poetry for Dummies was another of those books I was really hoping I didn’t like. The whole “For Dummies” series gets on my nerves to begin with, so it is double trouble when I picked this title up and found it valuable on so many counts. > > The opening section: Poetry 101 is an excellent read and in and of itself makes the book worth the purchase. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/11 "2004-09-05T00:11:54Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > . . . aaaaaand . . . [viola](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/fashion/05ROCK.html?8hpib)! Man, THAT was a mispaste. I didn’t realize I still that on the clipboard, and apparently my control-C didn’t take. So really I did beat you to it, Ilsa. You only got there first on a technicality. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/12 "2004-09-05T00:17:08Z")
Those grapes were probably sour anyway. 😛😃 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/13 "2004-09-05T00:18:27Z")
I’m really glad that link was bogus, 'cause I was thinking if poetry lovers automatically get some sort of connection between poetry & Rock, Paper Scissors, I’m totally not getting it, and I’m totally fucked. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/14 "2004-09-05T00:23:05Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Those grapes were probably sour anyway. 😛😃 WAAAY past sour, all the way to Cognac. _burp_ skew me ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/15 "2004-09-05T00:27:40Z")
If you want to DIY, I think haikus are a good foot in the door. They’re short enough not to be overwhelming. If you spend some time with one, contemplating the images it suggests, you might get some practice. Look for hidden things: if the poet mentions a seagull, seafoam, ice, and salt (totally random examples, btw), he/she is probably trying to get you to unconsciously see WHITE; a subliminal layer of color over an image. One of an infinite number of things to read for. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/16 "2004-09-05T00:35:01Z")
Haikus. That’s another one of those poetry things I keep hearing, and just don’t get. Seems like everyone knows all about haikus, as if general poetry weren’t bad enough. My friends are like, “oh, I just made a haiku!” I’m thinking, “I speak Russian, shall I start speaking to you in Russian? You’ll get about as much out of it.” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/17 "2004-09-05T00:40:51Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > . . . aaaaaand . . . [viola](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/fashion/05ROCK.html?8hpib)! TUBA! ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/18 "2004-09-05T00:47:30Z")
I think it would be best to start with the Imagists, as they present the most immediate aesthetic attractions. For instance: Pound’s \*In A Station Of The Metro: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd: [indent] Petals, on a wet, black bough.” [/indent] \* Read [this link](http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/pound/metro.htm), which almost singlehandedly got me through my upper level lit classes. Look at how the poem is structured. Ask yourself what parallels of society and nature Pound is trying to draw. Look at the particular words used (the main focus of the Imagists was to use the _exact_ word, not just a generally appropriate word) and ask yourself what _you_ see and what you think _Pound_ saw and what you think he was trying to tell _you._ ---
**Author:** ![PussyCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@PussyCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PussyCow)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/19 "2004-09-05T01:00:29Z")
You’re not alone. While I did post my favorite poem in that thread, it doesn’t mean I understand poetry. If you read the one I posted, it’s very simple and does not have any abstract imagery in it. Basically I’ll read a poem and most of the time I won’t get it. Sometimes I do. Stuff like _The Raven_, that’s not hard to understand, right? As for what’s good and what’s bad poetry: It seems to me that this is for the most part subjective. As is most art, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155/20 "2004-09-05T01:08:48Z")
I’m no great expert, but here’s my theory: poetry is designed to be read aloud. If you hear somebody read out a poem it sounds far better than reading it silently to yourself. Its like the difference between hearing someone singing a song and reading the lyrics on a page. At least that’s how it works for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-just-not-get-poetry-anyone/263155.md?page=2)