1. What’s the Difference? How do I read Poetry?
Poetry or Prose?
What’s the Difference?
How do I read Poetry?

2. Prose vs. Poetry Prose: short stories, novels, essays…
In 1950, Christopher Fry wrote:
Poetry “has the virtue of being able to say twice as much as prose in half the time, and the drawback, if you do not give it your full attention, of seeming to say half as much in twice the time” (Fry Time).

3. What is this?
So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. – William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow”

4. Oh, Really?
so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. – William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow”

5. Okay, I know it, how do I read it?
Focus on the effects of poetry…
How it gives voice – to you, to others
The artist’s craft – how they found it
The beauty of words, sounds, pictures
How it helps you feel intensely
The connections, empathy
Type and form are not as important.
Types: narrative, dramatic, lyric
Forms: sonnet, ballad, sestina, haiku
Your experience with the poem IS.

6. Active Reading of Poetry
When you read poetry…
Look and listen – appearance on page, sound of it being read
Watch the words – what do the words SAY?
Read through it – don’t pause or stop or annotate… yet
Interact with the work – poems are written to connect with you as a reader/listener
Take in what’s happening – the speaker’s experience
Re-read it…
Slow down – no skimming
Read it aloud – meant to be heard
Hear the “music” of words – how they play off each other
Your attention – what catches your interest?
Follow the syntax – ask WHY the poet creates its sentences
Ask questions – annotate the heck out of it

7. Your Task You get both a phony text and the real text…
Determine which one is the real one and which is phony.
Be able to explain why your selection is accurate