“Reading a poem is part attitude and part technique.”
1. Reading a poem requires a certain level of openness and curiosity of what the poem actually means or stands for, and it needs to be read in a meaningful way. A poem cannot be looked at as though it is simply words put together in lines. You have to approach the poem free of judgement or indifference and ask yourself questions as you do so.
2. In my personal experience throughout this course, I have had to learn how to read the poems we’ve been given. I have learned that approaching the poem with an, “I don’t want to read this,” or an, “What is the point of this,” attitude, is not helpful at all in trying to understand what the poem means. I have also realized that it’s okay to misunderstand the poem at first read.
In Sonnet 130: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun, for example, by just reading the title, I said to myself, “well damn,” because at first it sounds a little rude (lol.) Even after reading a little further, he is describing her hair as coarse and her breath as being a little stinky, but when I read the last two lines, 12-14,
“And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.”
He ends the poem by saying he loves her more than anything else and his love may be truer than any she’s ever experienced.
I will admit it took me reading this poem twice in my head and once aloud, before I finally understood what he was saying and it’s beautiful. He loves her with her coarse hair, her dull skin and her stinky breath.
2 thoughts on “Sophia Morales Discussion 12”
I think attitude plays such a big part in reading and understanding poems. When reading a poem, i always try to keep an open mind. I try to understand what the author is trying to say to the reader. I also try to put myself in their shoes. To my this poem is about love having nothing to do with beauty. Even though his mistress is no goddess, he still loves her, he still loves to hear her. This poem is relatable to most people because beauty fades.
I agree that you have to be open and curious in order to understand the poem you are reading. A lot of the times poems are based on hidden meaning and it takes your curiosity to understand by asking yourself questions. You also have to go into a poem being prepared to read and reread and reread it in order to fully grasp it. I also have the same attitude when it comes to reading poems and once i put it aside, the reading becomes much more clear to me.