ENGL 2003: Introduction to Poetry

In this class has change how a poem can be direct or have multiple ideas. One may interpret the poem one way as another person interpret differently. It interesting as I only known that poems were made up of rhyme and symbolism but there more then that. The words that poet use can be different  meaning in their era than what were define in our era. Also it give some background of what is the world back then. Like William Shakespeare “sonnet 130” there was multiples way to read it. Shakespeare try to play imagery to allow how the mistress look and act.

I found it interesting when I was reading the beginning of the chapter. The way that our vocal muscles were stimulated as we read sounded very familiar to me. It makes a lot of sense to associate the psychology behind a word can make all the difference in the way something is conveyed.

In my own writing, I find it annoying, unproper, or even too easy to do alliterations and most uncommon onomatopoeias. Instead, I exercise this principle with words that have more conventional use like clink, click, clatter, chink, shatter, and rumble.

This chapter talks about “the sound of poetry”, how the “upness”  and “downess” of vowel sounds affect us physically in different ways. Examples are how our hearts “sinks” when we grief or how high expressions represent excitement. It also talks about how writers and readers are aware of the differences in the fifteen vowel sounds of the scale. This is a little confusing to me because it is hard for me to tell the different kind of sounds  that the authors are creating.

As the semester goes on, I think that we are getting more and more into depth of the poems. I never knew that I can search the origin of a word and use it to also help interpret the meanings in the poem.  I think the classes are helpful because I wouldn’t think that the poems can be interpreted in different ways. It helps me open my eyes to see that a poem can mean different things to different people. My definition of poetry has not changed but it helped me expand my thinking.

What I find the most interesting about our class discussions so far are the amount of interpretations and the difference ininterpretations of poems from my various classmates. For example- The Sick Rose by William Blake. My interpretation of this poem was simply that the rose is a woman who’s is love with someone who’s not good for her. I was amazed by the self destruction interpretation of the rose and the worm being one.

                At the beginning of the course we were asked to define poetry, I defined it as something that makes you feel some type of emotion. This class has helped me to realize that not all poetry has such a purpose and that not all writers have such intentions. The most interesting thing that I have learned about so far was the difference between “anti-poetry” and classic “wonderland” poetry. The two poems by Shakespeare, one called “Winter” and the other called “Winter Fairyland in Vermont” exhibited the difference beautifully. They each possessed a special uniqueness although they were talking about the same subject. Before I took this class, whenever I thought of poetry the “wonderland” type of writing would come to mind. I would picture everything written beautifully with special effects such as the line “When lanes are fairylands in white”.  Now knowing that there is a different type of poetry I actually prefer that style and look up poems that use it. My way of thinking about poetry has changed because I no longer see poetry as the impossible to interpret. I’ve acknowledged that there is no right or wrong answer; I also appreciate this fact as well because it is interesting to hear the interpretations of others. Learning the different types of techniques is also helpful because now I am aware of certain things such as when the author ends with a couplet in a sonnet. This helps me to understand the significance of the poem and notice some of the writers intentions.

My opinion on what “poetry” is has not changed at all. I think poetry is just a word that defines expressing one’s own thoughts or ideas. Even something that cannot think can express “poetry”. I see poetry everywhere, even in outer space. Just the silence of the black abyss speaks an unlimited amount of words to me. The class has been very calm and focused, but I feel we lose the true nature of the words in the poem when it’s all based on opinion. I want to know what the writer was thinking or if he was thinking at all when he wrote those words. Maybe you can tell us to search some information on the poem and then come to class and mix in the writer’s thoughts with our opinion. It then becomes more than an opinion and something we can learn about the writing. I do agree with the statement you made about always using “I think” and how it can become very tiresome without having any true knowledge to support your opinion.

Something else that I feel should be improved on is the way we analyze the writings in the book. When we read “The Sick Rose” and tried to find out what it was about, I felt that the writing was lost in translation. It became a festival for thoughts, too many ideas and opinions to focus on. Maybe I’m more intrigued to read about what inspired the writing then what I think of it. What does an opinion change if the facts are right in front of you, or are they really facts if the writing is unknowable.

I never really understood poetry before taking this class. I like the fact that every time we read a new poem we take time to break the poem down and explain every part. Also, when we take time to hear everyone else’s different point of view and the way they see the poem. It gives you different ideas of what the poem could mean.  When we were discussing “The Sick Rose” in our last class, everyone had many different explanations to what they thought the Rose symbolized. Since the course began my thought of poetry has definitely changed. I always thought poetry was so hard and confusing but since taking this class I’ve realized that it’s not so hard. You just have take your time in reading the poems and breaking them down so you can understand every part.