Poetry is easily my weakness out of the four types of literature we are studying.
If I am ever reading poetry, I could tell you if I had to the different key terms I should be able to find it. I can pick out similes and metaphors, assonance and consonance, anaphora, whatever! I could tell you the voice of the poem and find imagery and symbols. I could tear poems apart to find the meaning if I had to, but it takes me a lot of work. I don't automatically know the meaning of what I've just read. I don't always see the point right away, it takes me some time. I also don't know anything about form. I couldn't tell you the different between a sonnet and a something else! It was never something I learned.
The only time I've ever touched poetry was when I was a senior in high school and taking AP Lit. Once a week my teacher would pass out a poem and she would give us an allotted time to read and annotate the poem and then answer all of the questions. Sometimes we would have to write an essay on the meaning and how we arrived at that meaning. Sometimes I would pass, sometimes I would get a really good grade, but it was always hard work for me. This is not something that comes naturally to me.
Because of this weakness, I imagine I will be spending time in all of these chapters, but most specifically the one on sound, rhyme and rhythm. I anticipate this being a difficult week for me.
Are there any pages in the Cheuse & Delbanco text which you found helpful for analyzing poetry?
ReplyDeleteI can relate poetry is my weakness as well. Reading through it a few times and looking for different things each time has helped though.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people can relate with poetry being their weakness, including me. I always have struggled with it.
ReplyDelete