How do you read a poem?

If you're at all like I am and don't have much experience with poetry, you might feel somewhat intimidated when faced with poems as complex as those we're reading for next week. Having just muddled through them myself over the last couple of days, I believe your best bet would be to start with the footnotes (to discourage your eyes from wandering as you try to focus on the poem) and then read the poem straight through, without pause, as if you understand everything. Don't glance down at the footnotes; don't try to figure out the metaphores; don't think too deeply about hidden meanings or even obvious allusions. Just pretend you know what's happening. This is a good time to appreciate the music of the language without the burden of analysis, so I highly recommend reading at least part of the poem aloud--but, again, don't let it slow you down. The goal for this reading is just to get done so if anyone asks, you can say in complete honesty, "Oh, yes, Blake's Visions of the Daughters of Albion? Of course I've read it; hasn't everyone?" (Okay, that last was kind of a joke, but never underestimate the value of bragging rights when it comes to complex works of art.

But seriously....)

Now go have a cup of coffee: you're gonna to need it.

Okay, it's time to read it again...this time for meaning. Glance at the footnotes as needed, annotate the text itself, make notes / write questions in a reading notebook. This is your chance to play catch-the-allusion and to grapple with any unfamiliar words / images. You might also simply mark particularly difficult passages for further consideration later on. When you're done, spend ten minutes or so just freewriting about the poem--glancing at it once or twice if you need to, but not more than that.

With a long poem like the Blake piece mentioned above, this reading and responding could take a couple hours of truly focused study, so set aside some quiet time when you know you won't be interrupted. Don't rush it; give the poem the time and effort it deserves. Keep in mind that the poet him or herself probably spent far more time than that composing, revising, and editing the darn thing, so the least you can do is give it a couple hours. (On the other hand, I don't recommend doing this with every poem you come across or even all of the poems we've been assigned for this class. Instead, after your first read-through, decide which work(s) most interest and appeal to or offend you. Otherwise, you won't have time for your other classes, let alone family and fun.)

Now set the poem aside again. Go for a walk, hang out with friends, and, while you're doing that, think about poem and talk about it, too...even if it's just aloud to yourself. Try to remember some specific lines and repeat them--again, do it out loud. And, yeah, this is a good time to go online and see what the net freaks are saying about the poem, though I personally find engaging in conversation--even if it's just with myself--will give me a stronger appreciation for a work than simply reading someone else's thoughts does.

Realistically, the next step will be to skim through the poem at least once more before going to class.

But if you have the time and inclination, read the poem again several times, slowly, and maybe only a passage or two at a time. Savor the language, think about the nuances of the punctuation, examine the line length, and enjoy the rhymes and rhythm. And, by all means, test your earlier thoughts and conversations to see if the ideas / readings you came up with actually seem plausible when you have the poem right in front of you.

When you go to class, be sure to ask about those difficult passages you couldn't figure out and to share your interpretations if they contradict those of your teacher and/or classmate. You might be completely off base, or you might have actually discovered something they missed: you'll never know if you don't ask.

And if you actually find the time to do all that, pat yourself on the back. You still might not have found the ultimate meaning, but by this point you've certainly gained an appreciation and at least some sort of understanding for the work that you didn't have before.