by A. S. Maulucci

Created on: April 02, 2009   Last Updated: April 03, 2009

Why Read Poetry?

Most people put up a stiff resistance to reading poetry (almost as much as they do when it comes to reading Shakespeare), and the reason is usually fear, confusion or boredom. But if poetry is approached as a highly accessible art form meant to be enjoyed for its entertainment value (just as Shakespeare's plays were intended), it can appeal to everyone.

Just like music, poetry is the food of the heart and soul. By speaking in a pure and honest voice, poetry enlarges the soul while enriching the heart and mind. And as if that weren't enough, when approached with a receptive and embracing attitude, poetry can offer us just as much pleasure as music, regardless of our level of appreciation.

Most of us read fiction for stimulation, enlightenment, and escape. But we can read poetry for something greater, something most prose can't give us - call it an elevated experience that puts us in touch with our deeper selves and our higher consciousness.

Reading poetry can reinvigorate our spirit, can inspire us to become more aware, more empathetic and more loving. Poetry is conducive to our emotional health. It teaches us how to live more comfortably inside our own psyche by helping us come to terms with our inner demons.

Like the speaker in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot, we all wonder at one time or another if life is worth the effort. Poetry helps us identify the essential questions we should be asking of ourselves.

How does poetry do all this? I'm not sure. But that's part of its magic and mystery.

Whether or not you aspire to be a poet, if you want to write poetry you must learn how to read it. Reading and writing work synergistically. You don't have to be a professional to enjoy singing a tune as you strum three basic chords on the guitar. You don't have to be an academic with a PhD. to put your thoughts and feeling into verse. All you need is a fundamental concept of what a poem is and how it works. Reading good poetry can help you gain this knowledge faster and more effectively than studying the theories of poetry writing.

Under the spell of a really good poem we become like children walking about in the world for the very first time. The enjoyment of poetry usually begins in childhood, when we listen to Mother Goose and other nursery rhymes. Children don't ask what these poems mean, they simply surrender themselves to the nonsensical world of pure entertainment. The search for meaning comes later.

The lines from Eliots Prufrock, "In the room the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo," have very little meaning by themselves, but in the context of the poem they are very effective.

The reading of poetry should be approached initially as a child who loves it for the pictures it paints and the sounds it makes.

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