How to appreciate poems
I think most of us are familiar with appreciating poems, because we did a lot of exercises related to it when we were in high school. Although we consider that what we did in high school is boring, appreciating poems is an exception. I think appreciating poems is interesting. Besides, it is very essential to be able to appreciate a poem if you really want to get a clear understanding of the poem. So I will talk about how to appreciate poems in the following.
Although appreciating poems is not similar with solving math problems, which can be done by using formulas, there are still a series of skills you can apply when you appreciate a poem.
One skill is that you can follow the sequence of characters—circumstances—emotions. When you are appreciating a poem, you should read through the poem and find the main characters in the poem. The main characters can be both people and things. Then you should find the circumstances in which the main characters are. Besides, try to imagine you are the main character and feel the circumstances as much as possible. After you have finished the above steps, the emotions which the poem wants to express will come as a flow. And now you have finished the characters—circumstances—emotions procedure to appreciate a poem.
Another skill is to consider some particular words. Some words in a poem play very important roles. These words contain a lot of meanings and express a lot of feelings. What you should do first is to find these words. Usually, these words are verbs or adjectives. Besides, they may use metaphors. So it is easy for you to find them. After you find them, you should understand the meanings literally. Then try to imagine as much as possible and you will come up with more meanings and feelings.
I hope everyone can appreciate poems. When you appreciate a poem and get a clear understanding of the poem, you will find that the poem is glamorous and life is colorful.
Life with poetry is more glamorous and colorful. I am surprised that you still remember the knowledge in high school, and it is very useful. I do not know if it is stil effective when we are appreciating English poetry, I will have a try.
ReplyDeleteObviously you are a master of appreciating poems. I am very regretful of not knowing you earlier. If you could have told this to me when I was in high school, I would not get only 4 points of 8 for the best in poem reading comprehension.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you .For most of English poems, when we understand what they are saying literally, we can understand the meaning they want to express. they describe their feelings in such a clear way. however, for Chinese poems , such as tianqi said, the poets always use many items to around the main ideas,which forces us to know what those items stand for very well.
ReplyDelete