Week 11 Discussion

Until this assignment I would usually struggle with poetry. Most of the times I would struggle with interpretation or meaning that the author tries to portray. These sources of information about the structure of poems and it’s components I found extremely helpful and gave me a better understanding of how to approach poems. My personal favorite takeaway from the article on “how to read a poem” is to read it aloud and embrace the ambiguity. I find both of these suggestions very helpful. Reading a poem aloud does make you get a better feel of the flow and rhythm while knowing that the meaning of a poem is a subject to a personal interpretation and it keeps on renewing itself every time you reread it is very freeing. Poems certainly have a mystery aspect to them and knowing that there is no right or wrong way of interpretation is quite liberating.Discussin

In this week lesson, it made me understand more about poetry. How to understand when I’m reading poetry. Before this lesson, it also takes me a while to understand reading poetry, especially when I’m reading Shakespeare. When I was a kid, the only poem I love to watch with my grandma was a show called “Brave New Voice” on HBO. It was a show where a youth group compete in verbal battle to make it to Washington for the National Slam Poetry. In the video, Italian and Elizabeth Sonnets explained “how word, sound devices, and imagery affect mood, meaning and theme”. It also explained how there are two different types of sonnets. The Italian sonnet is 14 lines in length and follows a strict structure. It’s divided into two sections that deals with two different aspects of the same subject. The two sections are identified as octave and the sea state. Elizabethan sonnet contains three quatrains and rhyming couplet. It contains three sections of four lines each. The quatrains are followed by two lines that sum up the message of the sonnet of proved a comment by the poet.

I used to think that poems were just an easier way to tell a story but after doing the exercises, I can tell that a lot of thought is put into it. In “How to read a poem” it says that poems are often difficult and that a lot of it also has to do with the reader’s own interpretation of what they read. There are many things to consider when writing a poem such as whether the poem should be long or short and what kind of poem it is, whether it rhymes or not. Poems are a much more complex thing and as a reader it doesn’t have to be understood by the first read it takes effort from both the writer and the reader to piece it together and give meaning to it. Poems are more of a everyone has their own interpretation thing rather than a one size fits all.

My ideas have change or broadened about poetry different ways, for example from me not knowing that much about poetry to seen more about poetry and poetry vs prose, and the difference, Also how poems should be written, and what they should have, for example, rhyme, rhythm, repetition, sound, imagery, or form. This are some or ways a poem has to be in poetry. Also from the reading and activities I learn that, poetry has the power to spread out any message or like feeling or ideas, as for how much you love someone, I know this because from the reading of sonnet 43, how do I love thee, by “Elizabeth Barrett Browning, we can see how the narrator expressed her love towards her husband, also she shows that her love is big and will forever be. I am not really that big of a fan towards poetry but I feel it’s something nice and good, also a really good way to show your ideas, emotions, expressions and your message towards the world or someone about you.

My ideas of poetry have broadened after the Week 11 activities because I had a sense of what poetry is but I forget how different poetry can be. It’s a broad writing form. When I think of poetry, I think of repetition and rhyme and though those literary devices are found in poems, that is not all poems are. It has been a while since I’ve refreshed my memory on poetry but I find that the short video from Activity 3 helped differentiate the different types of poetry, specifically sonnets. I have always been fond of poems and how poems can have many different meanings while being so concise. I am more drawn to powerful imagery and stories so poems are interesting to me but sometimes can be hard to break down. Reading Activity 5 Sonnet Number 130, “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by Shakespeare helped break down the sonnet making it easier to understand and less intimidating. I’m usually able to understand poems but Shakespeare’s work can sometimes stump me so the short video helped me better understand the sonnets for this week.

Whenever I read poetry it wasn’t always understood completely, either I haven’t gone through any experiences to understand the meaning of a poem or I simply just did not understand how the said words were meant to be taken. Although, I had some misunderstandings I always appreciated poetry; the way a speaker speaks poems and the way I could just envision the poet speaking their words. In Week 11 readings I was able to understand every poem, the preparation steps truly helped me to analyze and interpret the poems. Activity 7 was my favorite poems which contained “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and “Why Do I Love You So Much?” by a poet who is not named. I adore stories about undying and infinite love, and that is exactly what these two poems represent. The title “How Do I Love Thee?” confused me a bit, because I took it too literal thinking it meant “How do I love this person?” but it’s more “This is how much I love this person!” Browning goes onto explain in every way and any circumstance her love is so deep and strong for this person. In “Why Do I Love You So Much?” is kind of the same level of extreme as brownings poem, the poet goes onto say that they trust this person more than anyone else, that they look for that person to guide them to happiness.

With all the activities the class was given this week I was able to learn more about poetry than I ever had before. I remember learning about haiku’s in gradeschool but do not remember learning about the deeper meanings of poems. All of the videos were extremely helpful in explaining the different types of poems as well as giving examples. After what I have learned I realize that I really enjoy reading poems that use imagery. It’s another fun component added into the reading to create an element of imagination vs the emotions you would typically feel from reading a deep poem. I really like to use my imagination and try and visualize what the poet is depicting.   I want to read and maybe even get back into writing poetry again just so I can try and make some using imagery.

My ideas about poetry broadened tremendously after doing the activities affiliated with this weeks discussion. Being a songwriter growing up I’ve learned about ballads and how to separate your verses, chorus, and bridge. I also wrote poems but never put thought into what type of sonnet it may be. I would just put lines together and make sure they rhyme. The short video in Activity 3 really gave me a lot of insight on what poetry is. The way she dissected each part of sonnet was very clear. A sonnet consists of 14 lines and there are two types of sonnets. Italian (Petrarchan) and Shakespearean (Elizabethan). I learned that certain sections actually tell a problem and another section gives a solution. Learning this allowed me to read the poems in activities 4-8 much differently. I actually read the poems looking for the problems and solutions. I allowed myself to feel what was written and use my imagination more vividly.

Personally, I have never been a fan of poetry, however, I do agree that it helps people understand and appreciate the world around us. Petry can offer people a way to empathize with one another. In its immediacy, poetry is a counsellor helping people to understand one another and leading us away from hate to love, from violence to mercy and pity. Since I have never been deeply interested in Poetry, all the activities in Week 11, helped me view it differently. The reading materials and the videos helped me deepen my knowledge of Poetry and showed me the importance of it in people’s lives. For example, I really liked “Sonnet 18” by  William Shakespeare. In this sonnet, Shakespeare also claims to have the power to preserve his love’s beauty through poetry. Shakespeare uses Sonnet 18 to praise his beloved’s beauty and describe how their beauty is preferable to a summer day. The stability of love and its power to immortalize someone is the overarching theme of this poem. It deals with the theme of beauty and how it can be affected by prolonged lapses of time.

My idea of what I believed poetry was about is a combination of rhymes, analogies and personifications that were dumped into a few sentences and didn’t make much sense to me. Although I know that there’s a lot of passion that comes from poetry, I have to say that it’s extremely difficult to understand. After reading “How to Read a Poem” I was intrigued with the phrase “Embracing Ambiguity” which means that people tend to avoid uncertainty and are able to cope with change which offers the opportunity of learning. Often times readers give up on confusing expressions especially in poetry and embracing ambiguity directs readers into letting go of the idea that poetry is boring and let poetry take control without any assumptions or misinterpretations.

Reading poetry and really understanding the deep meaning of them was something that I had always struggled with. After doing the Week 11 assignments I have learned to not only see the base purpose of the poetry but to dive deeper and understand what the author is really trying to tell us—specifically reading the poets.org post on how to read a poem and breaking down the process of reading a poem to understand it deeply. Talking back to the poem and asking all these questions back to it was something that I had never thought of till reading this. It gave me a better understanding of how the poet wanted us to read their poem. Knowing the context of the poem was also something that I had never thought of, I had always read poems as a stand-alone piece of text but now I see that it is important to read between the lines and see what’s not right there in front of you.

After reading the material It was interesting to learn that there are both Italian and Elizabethan (Shakespearean) sonnets considering that the latter is the most popular I had no idea that the former existed. Also, how the structure of each differs, with Italian Sonnets consisting of an 8/6 composition (8-line Octave and 6-line sestet) while Shakespearean sonnets have makeup of 4/4/4/2, (3 quatrains and a 2-line rhyming couplet at the end) both equating to a 14-line makeup. Also, the ambiguous nature of poetry, we often read poetry and try to interpret it at face value when actuality the meaning behind the poem is often hidden with colorful language. Sonnet 18 is considered one of Shakespeare’s most romantic works, leading the reader to believe it is an ode to someone he fancy’s when in actuality the subject is that of a young man known as the “Fair Youth” who is handsome and widely sought after. The poem is in reality one of admiration rather than romantic notions. 

My ideas about poetry have changed drastically after reading week 11 readings and activities. Before I thought reading poems was very simple but after week 11 readings it showed me how poems can be way more complicated than it may seem on the surface level. Reading “how to read a poem” had the biggest impact on my thoughts regarding poems it made me realize I was one of those readers who made 2 of the 3 false assumptions when addressing an unfamiliar poem which was Assuming that I should understand what I encounter on the first reading and 2. Assuming the poem is a code I should crack and if I can’t do so I’ve missed the point of the poem. It also taught me to read poems out loud which is something I never do when reading poems. All in all this week readings helped me understand poetry way better than I did before and given me alot of useful tips I can use on the poems I read in the future

After doing all these activities I learned that poetry is a lot more complex than I previously thought, especially when it comes to sonnets and the differences between the Italian version and the English version. Sometimes I would go and read poems or stories and realize that I didn’t really understand the true meaning of the poem but when looking at the how to read a poem activity and the activity on Shakespeare also helped me to understand poems and poetry in general a lot better. I also learned about the Shakespearean sonnets which are split up into 3 sections while having 4 lines each while Italian sonnets don’t seem to have any couplets, Shakespearean sonnets also wrap up the end of the third section by giving a brief line or two summary about what the message of the poem was. Overall this week’s activity helped e to come away with a much better understanding of poetry writing and overall how to read poetry and stories in general and it was overall a helpful week of activities.

Before doing all these activities I used to think poems looked very simple at face value but now I know that there is more to poems than I thought. When I used to read poems If I didn’t get the message or the point at the beginning I would just assume that it was too difficult for me to understand. After reading the activity 2 article “How to read a Poem.” I have better ways to try and understand a poem. The questions in the article can give me a base line of questions to ask myself when reading the poem to get a better understanding. I also didn’t know about some of the forms of poems like sonnets. I found it interesting that sonnets can be in different categories even though they are both sonnets. In activity 3 I found it interesting how an Italian sonnet has two different stanzas with the octave being 8 lines and the sestet being 6 lines. I also found it interesting how the octave would show a question with the sestet showing the answer.

What I found interesting was the video explaining the differences between Italian sonnets and Shakespearean sonnets. Both are made up of 14 lines, however the way they are sectioned is very different.  Italian sonnets are made up of two sections, the octave and the sestet.  The octave is usually used to express a problem or argument while the sestet is used for the remedy of the issue.  However, in Shakespearean sonnets it is split up 3 sections/ 4 lines each, usually on the topics of love or the effects of time on physical beauty and the last 2 lines are reserved for a summary of the message in the poem.  I initially felt it might be difficult to understand how to differentiate the two styles but, the couplet is what will give you a quick guess to whether it’s an Italian or English sonnet. That’s because Italian sonnets do not have couplets.  For example, in Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare, the entire poem describes a woman and how unconventional she is and how she doesn’t exactly resemble a desirable woman, although still managing to become someone’s mistress. The very end of the poem or the couplet, takes a turn by explaining that despite all those flaws, she is rare and describing her as his love in the same instance. Knowing they have different structures helps me know what to look for so that I may understand poem better.

One way my knowledge and understanding of poetry has been broadened by all of this week’s reading was by figuring out how to actually read a poem. One thing that was hard for me, especially with reading older poems, was knowing where the lines ended. After reading the article “How to Read a Poem”, it advised to read it out loud. Normally this isn’t something that I would do, but I was already having some trouble decoding the Shakespeare poems. When reading it out loud I found that I was naturally making stops. This made it make more sense to me, it allowed me to take more time to read it, and the natural stops made the line stops make sense to me. Also, since I was reading out loud, I was forced to slow down and that made the poem more digestible for me and help with my analysis of what was being said.

Activity 8 “What My Lips Have Kissed and Why and When” is told by a speaker who can’t remember her lovers in the past but only the happy state of mind she once had. This poem has two stanzas but gives a descriptive idea of the speaker, which has opened my mind to poems and how much information can be given in something so short. For example, in “what arms have lain Under my head till morning” the speaker is unsure why she has forgotten her romantic past or if it’s because it wasn’t serious so her mind wasn’t paying attention. Just a simple line has a descriptive meaning behind it which communicates the speaker’s mindset. My favorite line from this poem is “summer sang in me A little while, that in me sings no more” this tells me the speaker’s emotional state, summer standing for her feelings of happiness and fulfillment. Summer “sings no more” for the speaker because she knows she won’t have the feeling of happiness summer would bring her and is deeply sad in conclusion. Reading this poem showed me the unique language used and uses my imagination to interpret what the speaker is meaning, making me think more openly to figure out what she means. 

All the poems and activities in week 11, helped me to view a different standpoint on poetry and the way it is written from the author’s point of view. I was never a fan of poetry and thought that it was always silly. This was because poetry was introduced to me in school and there were always questions that I needed to answer. Multiple-choice questions and short responses taught me to see poetry the way test makers saw poetry. I felt dismissed when it came to how I felt and what I saw in poetry. Poetry has such deep meaning, much deeper in passages, because of the way the stanzas are written, the personification, the time that the poetry was written, and even the author shows us how all these details really helped to impact the way the poem was created. It is interesting to know that poetry is such a huge part of the English Language because you gain something so much more that you won’t be able to gain when reading an article, essay, and/or passage.  

The essay written by Edward Hirsch (How to Read a Poem) provided a comprehensive and solid foundation for my understanding of poetry. His descriptions about common pitfalls really resonated with me, as those were things that held me back from genuinely appreciating the craft. Recalling the frustrations of figuring out the literal meaning of the poems. After reading the essay, I know now that poetry should not be rushed, and the words are meant to “felt” more so than read. We don’t have to figure out the literal meaning of the poem in one reading and that’s okay. I figured that’s the point. To write creatively and freely without pressure and to show the reader to allow themselves to get lost in the lines and the imagery.  To search for questions or answers and play around. That you don’t have to think too hard but also use your imagination to experience and feel things that can’t be felt directly.  

Before today I thought poetry was the shortest way to write a story. Poetry was something that started a long time ago. While I wasn’t totally wrong, poetry is literature in the shortest form. I learned that in poetry the author has to find many ways to keep the lines short but meaningful. The author often uses similes and metaphors to give the readers a better image of the story. In “Sonnet 18”  by William Shakespeare, we see Shakespeare the entire poem as a whole is a metaphor comparing the person to summer. Also in the poem, Shakespeare also uses even more metaphors to compare the person to summer, but the poem ends by saying the person is better than summer which gives the readers something to think about. So now I feel that poetry is something that you can’t just read to understand, its something that the readers need to analyze to find what the author is saying and thinking.

What most impacted my view of poetry from this week was the How to Read a Poem article. I’m only just realizing that you need some sort of guidance to understand leveled (mostly artistic) media. I’ve learned, like all interesting media, you must learn how to interpret information in an accurate and cohesive manner. Making things too convoluted can easily muddy your thought process and the subject matter itself. I’ve always had trouble understanding the lineation within poetic stanzas but this article showed a perspective that played close to my interests. As a rhythmically focused person, I enjoyed the part in the article that mentioned the relationship between music and poetry. “Some poets think of their words as music flowing from a horn; they think of phrases the way a saxophonist might.” For me, this is a great tip to keep in mind when reading artful writing.

I’ve never read poetry before, therefore these pieces are completely new to me. I watched the first video in this week’s material and then read all of the pieces. The thing that talked to me the most from the description of poetry in the first video is “Poetry = Power Packed Lines”, I find this definition the most accurate and common for all of the pieces from this week’s readings. It seems like they all were written about love and indeed used a lot of imagery – what makes them so powerful. The one I loved the most was “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by William Shakespeare. I feel that the use of parody helps the reader to connect to it perhaps more than the traditional love sonnet that Petrarch tended to write. Maybe that is why the last two lines made me smile, it feels as if his lover is very special.

The activity that broadened my ideas about poetry and taught me something new which also surprised me is activity 1 2 and 3. I’ve learned rhythm and rhyme from a young age its fun singing along poems but i never understood anything about it. Rhyme adds power to the lines of poetry that’s why we remember certain childhood poems, poetry is a form of expression and it let us get our feeling out. I love to see how words get connected that make our experience excited while writing it. I’ve never heard of the word sonnet until today it took me by surprise and i will be looking at poetry very differently. Sonnet make poetry fun because we put the rhyming words together which are Octave meaning eight lines, and sestet meaning six lines.