The American Academy of Poets has an invaluable introductory resource on their website (http://poets.org) by the poet Edward Hirsch. To write poetry well, you think about how to read a poem well. You likely already do this with songs you like and listen to over and over again.
Hirsch’s “How to Read a Poem” discusses how to approach poetry with a sense of investigation or openness. Among the important tips are:
- Try to read poetry without prior assumptions.
- Try to consider and learn some of the basic concepts about poetic line and form.
- Talk back to the poem
- Read the poem aloud.
In this introduction, Hirsch discusses the importance of reading a poem aloud:
“But sooner or later, you’re going to have to read the poem, word by word. To begin, read the poem aloud. Read it more than once. Listen to your voice, to the sounds the words make. Do you notice any special effects? Do any of the words rhyme? Is there a cluster of sounds that seem the same or similar? Is there a section of the poem that seems to have a rhythm that’s distinct from the rest of the poem? Don’t worry about why the poem might use these effects. The first step is to hear what’s going on.” Ed Hirsch, “How to Read a Poem”
Think about this also as you explore Spoken Word poetry for this class. Notice which words come alive in Willie Perdomo’s “How Beautiful We Really Are,”