What to read

[Bulwarky]

Hello, everyone! I've a question to ask of you.

I'm just starting out writing poetry. I've got the basic feel of it, so my writing hasn't turned out too horrible (or at least I hope it hasn't!), but when it comes to techniques and all those other things that make poems enjoyable and memorable, I'm a dawdling moron.

I know that to gain more experience, I need to write and read. I can take care of the writing part, but I have absolutely no idea where to start with the reading.
Any suggestions?

[Dichroic]

Start by reading poems. When you find out what sort of poems you like, read more of that kind (hopefully there will be multiple kinds.) Only then go on to reading things about writing poetry. (One old book to look at in that vein is Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, On Writing.)

[peg]

A fine, encouraging book is Ted Kooser's, The Poetry Home Repair Manual, Practical Advice for Beginning Poets. He writes with respect and humor with lots of examples from poets you can look up on the web.

[Bulwarky]

Are there any specific authors you guys would recommend looking into?

[KTC]

Are there any specific authors you guys would recommend looking into?

I would say go to the library and find the poetry section and skim through a few books. Everybody has different tastes. My favourite poet is Pablo Neruda (particularly his love poems)...but you might try reading him and dislike his work.

[Dichroic]

OK. You want more specific instructions? First, go to a used-book store and buy a cheap copy of a book with some title like "Best-Loved Poems". Then borrow a baby, if you don't have one handy. Read the poems out loud to the baby, while rocking or bouncing her on your lap. (If you're not comfortable reading poetry out loud even to so small an audience, start with Dr. Seuss first.) That will give both a you a good grounding in rhythm and meter and in the sorts of poems people read just because they loved them and not because they thought they were "great art".

Next, get a copy of an big general anthology, like the Oxford Book of English Verse or the Norton Anthology of Poetry (a library copy will do). Don't read the whole thing, just dip around here and there looking for poems that seem appealing. Use it for bedtime reading or keep it next to the toilet (maybe not a library book!) Read some of the notes in the book too - note how many of the poems that we do think of as great art are basically just about the poet trying to get laid.

Take a look, too, at some of the more recent stuff toward the end of the book. See how poets like Dylan Thomas, e.e. cummings, or Allan Ginsberg started experimenting. See what they did with rhyme and rhythm and when they discarded it. See how the Harlem poets like Langston Hughes or Gwendolyn Brooks used poetry to write about their own reality. Maybe get hold of a more recent anthology, like Garrison Keillor's Good Poems, or listen to Keillor's radio spots (if he's still doing them and if they're on an NPR station near you).

Now start reading some new poetry. Read online journals, most of which are free. everydaypoets.com will email you a poem in your inbox every day - see what works for you and what doesn't. Hang out in the crit forum here - read the critiques and see what you agree with and what you don't. Add your own crit whenever you have something to say. Write your own stuff whenever you feel moved to do it, and post it in Crit or the Chapbook, to let us have a look.

[ajc]

OK. You want more specific instructions? First, go to a used-book store and buy a cheap copy of a book with some title like "Best-Loved Poems". Then borrow a baby, if you don't have one handy. Read the poems out loud to the baby, while rocking or bouncing her on your lap. (If you're not comfortable reading poetry out loud even to so small an audience, start with Dr. Seuss first.) That will give both a you a good grounding in rhythm and meter and in the sorts of poems people read just because they loved them and not because they thought they were "great art".

Next, get a copy of an big general anthology, like the Oxford Book of English Verse or the Norton Anthology of Poetry (a library copy will do). Don't read the whole thing, just dip around here and there looking for poems that seem appealing. Use it for bedtime reading or keep it next to the toilet (maybe not a library book!) Read some of the notes in the book too - note how many of the poems that we do think of as great art are basically just about the poet trying to get laid.

Take a look, too, at some of the more recent stuff toward the end of the book. See how poets like Dylan Thomas, e.e. cummings, or Allan Ginsberg started experimenting. See what they did with rhyme and rhythm and when they discarded it. See how the Harlem poets like Langston Hughes or Gwendolyn Brooks used poetry to write about their own reality. Maybe get hold of a more recent anthology, like Garrison Keillor's Good Poems, or listen to Keillor's radio spots (if he's still doing them and if they're on an NPR station near you).

Now start reading some new poetry. Read online journals, most of which are free. everydaypoets.com will email you a poem in your inbox every day - see what works for you and what doesn't. Hang out in the crit forum here - read the critiques and see what you agree with and what you don't. Add your own crit whenever you have something to say. Write your own stuff whenever you feel moved to do it, and post it in Crit or the Chapbook, to let us have a look.

Good advice.

[billy12]

Try your hand at various poets from Blake to Linda Pastin or Louis Gluck. A wide variety of good poets will serve.

[milly]

personally, I really enjoy the poetry or Theodore Roethke and TS Eliot...for more lyrical stuff I like Edna St. Vincent Millay...I particularly enjoy Randal Jarrell and Czeslaw Milosz

:)