How to Read a Poem

For poets and non-poets

Warning: not for the entrenched Metrophobe (one who fears poetry) and not for those who suffer from oimoiokatalichiphobia (the fear of rhymes)…. though if you have omphalophobia (fear of navels) you’ll probably be fine. Contemplate yours as you wish.

This post contains significant discussion of how to best read poetry that might drive ordinary people (i.e. non-poetry-minded folks who don’t live in their own heads) mad. May require audience participation.

[Disclaimer: to our knowledge, no words were harmed in the writing of this discussion of poetry.]

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Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you all. Anneliese Dahl here. I know I know, I know it’s been so long, at least 4 or 5 days since we’ve talked about poetry… interpretation, rhyming or not rhyming, and the nuts and bolts of poetry rhythm. But we’re back, all full of vim and vinegar, whatever that means.

Today we want to talk about how to read a poem.

[Pernoste] I can hear a plague of crickets coming to fill the silent void.

[Anneliese] You and your crickets. At least the ravening horde (I’m being facetious) that generally reads our writing won’t let us down. They’ll at least take a gander.

[P] A gander? What are you, 90?

[A] I don’t get out much! Haha. A goose? That gives an entirely different meaning.

[P] I don’t think the ravening horde wants a goose.

Anyway… let’s move on. To be devil’s advocate for a moment… here on Medium, we’re going to talk about how to read poetry. To poets?

[A] Well, yeah. Maybe nobody will read it at all. Poets may not feel the need to read it, and non-poets may not be interested…. but perhaps some new poets, maybe, will be intrigued. I don’t know. Maybe we’ll be surprised.

We’ll just give our perspective, of course. We don’t write the Laws of Poetry. And many of us are just natural poets, drawn to the form and beauty of it. How often do we really think about how to get the most out of the poems we read?

[P] I’d like to write the laws of poetry! I know it took us some time to feel that we have some understanding of poetry and what makes it work (for us, anyway)… though we continue learning.

[A] I think it helps that we talk to each other about these things… shakes us each out of our ruts sometimes.

[P] OK, Professor Dahl… how should we begin?

[A] At the beginning, of course. Doctor Pernoste. About a month ago we posted a poem on Medium “Changed by a Poem” which describes what it feels like to be really affected by a poem, to really feel the poet’s heart and soul… in (and between) the lines. It also got us thinking about reading versus hearing poems.

[P] You’re going to make me read between the lines, too? In BETWEEN the lines? You know… the places where there aren’t any words?

[A] Oh, stop it, you maniac. You talk about that all the time.

[P] Yes, but it’s funny when you call me a maniac, haha. I know that when we talk about “between the lines” it’s just a way of saying that we read the connotations of words also, and feel the sound of them, and the way the phrasings are turned… all to get a deeper feel of the poet.

[A] Anyway….. why don’t we walk through our process of reading poems?

But…. Before you read on, go to these two poems [The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, and A Dryad I? by Anneliese Dahl ] and read them to yourself the way you would normally, in your head or aloud, however, you usually read poetry here. Enjoy them and think about what they mean.

Copies are below if that is simpler, but we encourage you to read Anneliese’s post of A dryad I? and clap/comment. Robert Frost doesn’t need your support, having died in 1963, but I’m sure he’d appreciate your love.

Many of you probably know this poem, but how many have thought of how to read it properly to get into the head of Frost? We’re going to use these two poems as our examples, our guinea pigs.

POEM #1

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

POEM #2

A dryad I? by Anneliese Dahl

My garden loves me, thrives from the touch of me, in blooms and shoots in bees and butterflies. If I could plant myself maybe, feet deep in the rich soil of my over-grown garden, could I drink from the earth and raise my eyes to heaven carrying fruits in my hands and letting flowers twist my hair?

When I am sore wounded to the bone and the blood, is that what it takes for me to be a part of life? But why, God, cannot I live even delicately perched between the silence and noise between the crowds and the loneliness? How is it you could make me thusly, unable to cope, too weak to surpass what others do, and do, and do?

I would dance in the sunlight in the hands and arms of others if it didn’t pain my heart so. I would sing to the moon if I had a voice again and stood among the laughing eyes of revelers on the rooftop. For the fears that come, kiss me tenderly, moon, and bright my eyes carefree so I can sing out moonbeams.

And when comes the distant morn carry me into the sunlight so I can dance again a-time, browning warmly in the rays. Just lay me in my garden after, to cool atop the rich moist soil and in the darkened shade. I will water myself in tears and find comfort among the roots and stones and even the weeds. Maybe some day I can learn to breathe.

The Directions

[A & P] OK, now for the guidance from Pernoste & Dahl. Here goes….

1. [Goal] The goal is to find the voice of the poet, to hear it read not as a bunch of words but as a dialog from the poet to the world.

We like to find the passion and the emotion in the words and prefer to hear it as though it is read from the stage…. not overly dramatic (mind you, as that would be annoying) but with an appropriate amount of intimate feeling and vocal dynamism.

2. [Content/theme] Read the title and subtitle. What do they suggest? What are your expectations?

Prepare yourself mentally to interpret the story in the context of the title. Sometimes this becomes very important when the title seems at odds with the poem at first.

3. [Cadence/pace] Skim through the poem and look at the structure and the mood of the writing, but also look at the line breaks, the punctuation, and the variance of line lengths.

a. In general, we consider that: i. a period implies a full pause in reading ii. a comma implies a short pause iii. No punctuation at the end of the line means no pause or little pause as you wrap into the following line iv. [Note: some poets notoriously use no punctuation at all, especially those who write poetry with very short lines. In this case, we experiment first with very short pauses after each line and try to wrap words together if they seem part of the same sentence extending to multiple lines.]

4. [Word/phrase uses] Note the word choices, considering that sections with alliteration would require some subtle emphasis. Also, unusual word selections or sentence structure (e.g. inverted verb/noun) would indicate a spot of some emphasis.

Passages of “negative/sad” content may want a slight downturn in pitch or volume at the end of the line, whereas neutral or positive passages may want a steady pitch or perhaps a slight increase in pace.

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The Road Not Taken

Let’s start with Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, a beautiful poem about walking in nature (somewhat introspective) and about individuality and the willingness to go where others have not. Also, there’s a feeling in the last stanza, that the author wonders sometimes about that other path.

It has an unusual rhyming structure (ABAAB) and a pleasant irregular rhythm (mixed iambs, trochees, and dactyls). Structured poems, especially, benefit from careful reading to impart feeling and avoid a mere emphasis on the rhyme scheme.

Though I have to say Frost’s rhyming is beautifully unobtrusive and feels so smooth… no feeling of forced rhymes, just so well done.

You don’t need to do this, but for illustration, we color-coded each portion that we feel is intended to be read through without pause, and with pauses between each colored section.

In addition, the gray highlighting shows words that seem to benefit from particular emphasis (alliterations, internal rhymes, and strong thematic words). If multiple words are highlighted together then they should be given near equal weight in the emphasis.

Yes. This beautiful poem is obviously intended as a philosophical and metaphoric poem about choices in life, so should be read neither slow nor fast. Slow would be ponderous and heavy, and fast would just make it sound frantic.

This poem should be read calmly yet energetically at a steady tempo. There are only a couple of areas of slight tempo change, a slight decrease, or pausing at some key impactful lines in the last 2 stanzas.

Take a look at the color coding and instructions. Read each color without pause, then pause, and read the next one without pause, and on and on.

When you reach gray shading in each line, these are words to emphasize. When read in this way, aloud, we feel you can really appreciate the words and profundity intended by Frost. Hope he likes it wherever he is.

[A] There are audio files below that you can listen to if you want to hear how we finally read them. Pernoste read Frost, and Dahl read Dahl… haha, it rhymes!

[P] They’re going to sneak ahead and listen. Guarantee it.

[A] Haha. You’re probably right… but that’s OK. They’ll at least think about reading versus hearing poetry.

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A Dryad I?

[P] So now let’s try one of Aneliese’s recent poems, “A dryad I?” that shows a more unusual Freeverse structure and a design that requires multiple areas of tempo change. It starts with almost a romantic feel in an homage to nature. A couple of lines, in the beginning, beg for emphasis with their alliterative oo’s of “blooms and shoots” and b’s from “bee/butterfly.”

The last part (in blue) of the first stanza should be read more quickly as though anxious and questioning. I get this from the content as well as there being 4 lines without a break/pause.

The second stanza introduces contemplation and heartbreak that you struggle to live in the real world. In the middle (green) there is a frantic cry out to God why you cannot live easily in the world [to be read just a little more quickly].

Then the stanza returns to sad contemplation with regard to why you are not like others [to be read slowly as indicated by multiple pauses].

The third stanza captures an aspect of wishful hopefulness, but again with an almost frantic desire [to be read a little more quickly based on the few pauses included]. The stanza ends with a hopeful prayer to the moon [read slow and hopeful].

The fourth and last stanza brings resignation, indicated by the word choices. It is as though you have lived the life you want for one night, but you recognize that you still must be returned to your life in the garden.

This entire stanza should be read just a little slower (despite there being few line pauses) and with a longer pause before the last line.

[A] So what do we say to folks who think this is an awful lot of work to read a poem?

[P] Haha. Then don’t do it!

No, but seriously it only takes time in the beginning, and you don’t have to write it out and colorize, etc. Just make quick mental notes. After a couple of times, it comes very naturally to do a quick skim to get an idea of the tone and structure.

Then it becomes second nature to let the words guide you on the accents and tempo. It certainly helps when the poet gives guidance as to where he/she would pause.

[A] Or you can ignore our instructions. Just read aloud, instinctively, putting emotion and inflection into the reading. Do it a couple of times until you really feel the flow of it.

[P] Poetry, ultimately, is meant to be read aloud.

[A] Hope you enjoyed this latest session of our exploration of the world of poetry.

[P] Or maybe you had a nice nap. That’s good, too. Either way, let us know what you think about reading poetry aloud vs reading silently.

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For our other writings on poetry, check out:

Is it possible to love poetry?

Welcome to the Poetry Multiverse

The cover image and an early draft of the discussion were first published at https://vocal.media (no longer there).