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Reading Poetry

• Most poems are written in complete sentences--do not automatically regard the line as a complete unit of meaning. In general, sentences are complete units of meaning; lines are not.
• For the most part, poets tend to use standard punctuation.
• Poems are "a temporary stay against confusion" (Frost)--everything in a poem has a place; good poems make perfect sense.
• Poets often rely on figurative language to convey meaning.
• The meanings in poems are often suggested instead of stated directly.
• Poems do not mean whatever we want them to mean. Don't say, "but this is my interpretation," as if claiming ownership of an interpretation somehow makes the interpretation valid. It does not. An interpretation of a poem is valid only if it is well supported by the poem itself.
• Poems do not contain any "hidden meaning." Poets do not hide meaning from you, but poems do require a high degree of imaginative participation from readers.
• Always use a good dictionary when you read poetry: look up words you don't know, and look up words you do know to discover different and relevant meanings of those words.

Terms and Concepts Relevant to Poetry

1. Images
   • Definition: An "image" is a word that imaginatively appeals to the senses. Often, an image will evokes a "mental picture" (but images can appeal to all of the senses).
   • Remember the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words?
   • Ask yourself, what does the image suggest? (What feelings, emotions, ideas, etc.?)
   • denotative meanings = "dictionary" definition
   • connotative meanings = suggested meanings beyond the dictionary definition

2. Symbols
   • Definition: A symbol is an image with a meaning greater than itself--a highly suggestive image.
   • Popular symbols include the American Flag (or the flag of any country), the moon, light/darkness, and spring, to name only a few of the many.
   • In poetry, the meaning of a symbol always depends on the context. The moon, for example, could symbolize a few different things. It could symbolize romance, insanity, barrenness, etc.
   • Some symbols are created by the use of an image within a poem.

3. Metaphors
   • Definition: A metaphor is a means of defining one thing in terms of something very different.
   • Metaphors are important in poetry, and, because metaphors allow poets to say one thing in terms of something else, metaphors sometimes cause confusion for inexperienced poetry readers.
   • Every metaphor has two parts: (1) tenor = the thing being defined, and (2) vehicle = the thing doing the defining.
   • Examples of metaphors include "You (tenor) are like a hurricane (vehicle)"; "Mother (vehicle) Nature (tenor)"; "A ghost ship sailed across the night sky (vehicle)" (the moon is the implied tenor); "Her words (tenor) cut through my heart" (a knife is the implied vehicle).
   • The key to understanding the significance and relevance of metaphors is to uncover the similarities between the tenor and the vehicle.

4. Extended Metaphors
   • Definition: A extended metaphor is a metaphor that is developed for several lines and sometimes throughout an entire poem.
   • Examples include the poems below: