Poetry Friday--Help is on the Way!

If you are not a regular reader of poetry, it may be that you think you it is something too complex for you to tackle. If that's the case, visit the Poetry Foundation where you can look at a few of their Reading Guides. I'd suggest reading the poem first, and then reading the commentary. Really, poetry is nothing to be afraid of!

You could have guessed there'd be a book called How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love With Poetry! We have it! It's written by Edward Hirsch [808.1 HIR]. This from the Preface:

My idea is to present certain emblematic poems I care about deeply and to offer strategies for reading these poems. My readings are meant to be instructive and suggestive, not definitive, since poems are endlessly interpretable.

"Poems are endlessly interpretable," is the key. Your reading of a poem is as valid as anyone else's!

Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry [808.1 OLI] takes you one step further--to at least thinking about writing poems of your own.

Have fun!