Almost Everyone Likes Poetry, Even if They Don’t Realize It

Which is why everyone needs to read more of it

My students were often skeptical when I assured them they liked poetry. In fact, they were obsessed with it. And I could prove it.

Then I’d hand out some poetry for them to analyze — the lyrics to “Eleanor Rigby.” A few of them would recognize it as a Beatles song right away (some of my students had never heard of the Beatles), and it would click that song lyrics are poems. We’d read a few more poems, and then we’d listen to the songs. I’d have them share some of their favorite lyrics. By the end of the unit, they would grudgingly admit they liked at least some poetry — so long as it was set to music.

So Why Don’t People Read Poetry?

As a former English teacher, I would like to apologize to all of the poets out there. I strongly suspect most people who think they hate poetry can point to an English teacher as the reason they hate it. English teachers make it seem so mysterious and difficult.

To be sure, some poetry really is difficult. A lot of contemporary poetry is dense, and reading it can give you a headache. I’ve read poems that felt like the poet had a bag of words and just shook them out, letting them land wherever gravity took them. And then to have an English teacher come along with a worksheet, demanding answers — well, no wonder the public has rebelled against poets.

How to Get the Most Out of Poetry

I had a co-worker who explained it well: he didn’t understand everything going on in T. S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men,” but he appreciated the way the poem made him feel. The imagery spoke to him, even if he didn’t necessarily get the meaning Eliot intended.

Poems are like paintings or sculptures — they exist as a work of art, independent of what the artist may have meant in making them. I can like a poem because of its images or language or how catchy it is. I don’t need to be able to explicate it in a five-paragraph essay.

I can like poetry for the same reason I like the Beatles’ song “I Am the Walrus.” I appreciate the texture of the song even if the meaning is slippery.

Here are some poems for you to read. Don’t try to hard to understand them — focus on what they make you picture in your head (the imagery) and how they make you feel (the tone).

Here’s one from Skye (Vixen Lea) Nicholson that has some gorgeous imagery.

Here’s another highly visual poem by Amy Christie

And here’s one that plays with language in a really fun way — I encourage you to try reading this poem by Dazzling Shene aloud. Appreciate the way it sounds.