To be honest, I was not good at appreciating poems in senior high school. What I thought about the content or emotion of a poem was often different from the answer. However, sometimes it was true that I misunderstood the poem because I did not get enough information about the poem. Now I know what I need to try to understand a poem correctly.
First, I need to find out the background behind a poem. Poets always express their feelings about the current social situation. They may make some comments on it or use the past social situation to make a comparison. If I do not know the background of a poem, I will not know the poet's real reason of writing the poem, and I cannot feel the poet's deep emotion. Therefore, a poem's background is essential for me before appreciating the poem.
Second, I need to know the typical writing style of the poet. Usually, one poet has his or her own special style of writing poems, so their poems may have similar emotion, words, writing skills and topic. To some extent, I can guess what the poem talks about by understanding the poet's other poems. Some people regard this method as a trick, but sometimes it might be useful, especially when I completely cannot understand the poem.
Third, I need to master the use of different rhetorics. Poets usually do not want to express their ideas directly, so they use many rhetorics to hide the true meanings under the surface. Such writing skills also make their poems sound beautiful but difficult to understand. Knowing the purpose of a rhetoric and its features helps me break the ice and catch the big fish. Sometimes poets aim to express the real meaning by writing the opposite meaning. If I cannot be aware of the use of rhetorical, I will be confused and only see the tip of an iceberg.
In sum, I need to get enough information of a poem so that I can appreciate it as correct as possible. What i said above are my personal opinions about how to appreciate poetry. I think patience is also necessary. As a science student, if I lose patience and get bored with poetry, I will never enjoy the beauty inside it.
These three points is useful for appreciating poems.
ReplyDeleteKnowing background can help people remember the writing style well, and help people avoid mistakes of understanding, if poets have different writing styles in different stages.
Haha, a concise and precise conclusion.
DeleteFirst,your font is interesting. Second, your strategies are useful. I had the same problem with you when I was in senior high school; I always misunderstood the meaning of a poem, though I love poetry, especially ancient Chinese poetry.
ReplyDeleteThe skills you mentioned are very useful for me!!! I had the same confusion as you when I was in senior high school. I just cannot made out the further meaning of the poems. Maybe following your suggest, I will have a better understanding of the poems.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I dislike the way people analyse poems in exams. The wonderful part I enjoy in poem is the vague feeling it gives me. I like it just because it makes me think of something,and I do not want to find out what it actually means.
ReplyDeleteIt always takes special skills to understand something artistic, such as music, painting, etc.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the most important thing to appreciate a poem it to put your emotion into the poem. Replace the poet's side and you can know what a poet wanted to express.
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