NEW TO POETRY?
Were you forced to study poetry at school? Do you
find poetry reviews just provide further mystification?
Or do you feel as if it’s all too difficult
to be worth the effort? It’s easy to be put
off reading modern poets by bad experiences in the
past, but you’re really missing out on some
fantastic poetry if you don’t give it a try.
Ranging all the way from the totally accessible to
the immensely complicated, modern poetry has something
to offer everyone and there’s a rich variety
of work to explore and enjoy.
If you read the poetry classics or if you like fiction,
contemporary art, cinema or music, we believe you'll
also enjoy the pleasures, the richness and the sheer
dynamism that contemporary poetry has to offer. The
PBS can help get you started.
Simon Armitage has been described
as 'the first poet of serious artistic intent since
Philip Larkin to have achieved popularity'. Here is his irreverent guide for
new poetry readers:
The PBS' Top Tips for Poetry Readers by Simon
Armitage
Here's a Poetry Testing Kit. It can't produce a
precise result in terms of a poem being good or
bad - it's more of a finger-in-the-wind, rule-of-thumb
job, that might tell you why you like a poem
(or why you don't). Remember, the reading of poetry
is not an exact science: it does not require the
wearing of protective glasses and need not be carried
out under strict laboratory conditions.
The Eye Test - How does it look on the page?
Has some thought gone into its shape? Does the form
bear some resemblance to the content?
The Magic
Eye Test
- If you look for long enough into the
poem, will it reveal another meaning or
picture hidden within it? Will further
readings uncover further meanings and
new rewards, and so on?
The Hearing
Test -
How does it sound? Read it out loud -
does it work on the ear in some way?
The pH
Test
- A test for Poetic Handicraft. Does the
poem use recognisable poetic techniques,
of which there are hundreds? Are the techniques
subtle, or do they poke out at the edge?
The IQ
Test
- Not a test for Intelligence Quotient,
although that might come into it, but
a double test for Imaginative Quality
and Inherent Quotability: does the poem
have some sort of dream life you can respond
to: does it have lines or phrases that
might stick in the memory?
The Test
of Time
- Would the poem outlive its immediate
circumstances? This doesn't mean it has
to be 'classic' or 'great' or have some
eternal message - it might just be a case
of the poem withstanding a second reading.
Remember, good poems can create their
own contexts, and have poetic value way
beyond their apparent shelf-life or sell-by
date.
The Test
of Nerves
- Somebody once said that a poem shouldn't
just tell you not to play with matches,
it should burn your fingers. In other
words, does the poem create a sensation,
rather than simply an understanding?
The Lie
Detector Test
- Poems don't have to tell the truth,
but they have to be true to themselves,
even if they're telling a lie. Give the
poem a thump - does it ring true?
The Spelling
Test
- Does the poem cast a kind of spell or
charm? At the very least does it create
a world, even just a small but distinct
world, capable of sustaining human life;
a world whose atmosphere we can breathe
and whose landscape we can inhabit for
the duration of the poem?
The Acid
Test
- This is the final test and the one that
really counts. It's like a test for the
mystery ingredient that separates a truly
great tomato sauce from its rivals. It's
the X-factor, although it might be to
do with the author's experience of poetry.
Is it possible to write a good poem if
you've never read one? Somehow I doubt
it.
© 2002 Simon Armitage & PBS
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