/lit/ - Literature

>>20093194
Smoke some really strong weed, it helped me tremendously. After a while, you won’t need to anymore.

>>20093194
>use of language for the sake of beauty is completely new to me
>deciphering the meanings
So are you reading for the sake of the beauty or to decipher the meanings?

>>20093194
GIVE US AN EXAMPLE YOU FAGGOT

>deciphering the meanings
go back

>>20093209
Both

>>20093212
Reading poe at the moment

>>20093226
I love Poe. Esp. Ulalume. Give us an example of a stanza or verse you don't understand.

>>20093194
Read it several times. Sounds obvious but even people who read lots of poetry often won't grasp the full meaning on first read - especially since a lot of poetry may use syntax different to the syntax you use in regular prose (e.g. a word at the end of the third line of the stanza may be corresponding to a word in the first line, but you might not realise this until you've re-read it).
Read to the punctuation not to the line. Again, obvious, but if you're knew to it this might be a mistake that you don't realise you are making.
Try to think visualise what you're reading. This will depend on the poem, but sometimes it can help if you struggle with abstractions and are looking too literally at the meaning of each individual word. It won't help all the time but sometimes its the thing that can help click it into place.

Let's take the opening of Keats' Bright star, for example:

>Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—
>Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
>And watching, with eternal lids apart,
>Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
>The moving waters at their priestlike task
>Of pure ablution round earth's human shores

Many people who are unfamiliar with poetry don't realise at first everything from the second line is a continuation of the first thought I.e. I wish I was eternal like a star BUT I DON'T WISH I was lonely and separate from humanity like a star. It seems obvious once you figure it out, but a lot people see each line as a new disconnected thought and as a result they're not able to put it all together. But overall it really really depends on the poem and the style.

>>20093194
>How to Read Poetry Like a Professor (beginner)
>The Book of Forms (advanced)
Check those out. If deepening your understanding of technical aspects doesn't help you appreciate poetry, accept you're too much of an autist and go back to non-fiction. If you're already enjoying what you read stop being an autist and just continue reading without worrying about how well you understand it.

>>20093194
Read easier poems

>>20093226
>Reading poe
Nice. What did you like about him?

>>20093194
Ask yourself why you are reading at all? I read all Poe's work when I was in middle school and probably only understood 10% of it, but that didn't stop me from enjoying every word. The experience of being a reader does not necessarily involve complete comprehension.
If you're tackling dense poetry because you think it's somehow more meaningful, you're gonna get bored real fast and you'd be better off reading stuff you actually enjoy.
The way to get into poetry is to sample many poets and go down whatever paths feel natural. Go to the poetry section of your library and just fuck yourself up.

>>20093194
>I have started with poetry
>I have only read non fiction before
So you went straight from non-fiction to poetry, without any intervening prose fiction stage? How wise do you think that was, on a scale of one to seven?

>>20093226

Al Aaraaf is unironically god-tier poetry. Most people here can't spell half of the words used in that poem.

>>20094582
bold of you to assume i can spell the other half

>>20093194
Read prose. Start out with light material, work your way up. Neuroplasticity. Poems are alright I guess.