Are You Well Read?

by

Mona Hodgson

Robert Frost, Calvin Miller, and dozens of other notable poets have said it. “If you want to write, READ.” While they may not have each said it in those exact words, their message was clear: Read and study those who write well. Learn from the masters.

Many writing instructors even say to read the writing of those who write poorly. I agree that we can learn from the mistakes of others, but first we must be able to recognize the difference.  

Read Poetry.

Reading how-to columns and books on writing poetry can be helpful in teaching us how to discern strengths and weaknesses. However, nothing can take the place of reading poetry.

Do you want to be a poet who is published again and again? Read well the poetry of others, as well as your own. Read published poetry, both contemporary and classic.

Peruse anthologies and collections of a favorite poet’s work. My poetry bookshelves hold such titles as: One Hundred and One Famous Poems, Writing the River and The Angles of Light by Luci Shaw, A Widening Light edited by Luci Shaw, Mornings Like This by Annie Dillard, Saints Alive Now & Then by Mary Harwell Sayler, The Book of Images by Rainer Maria Rilke, Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson, The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou, and Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silvertein.

Read general magazines that feature poems as well as periodicals specifically devoted to poetry.

Ask Questions.

Part of reading well, at least for writers, is reading critically. Poets who want to read and write well read as part of their perpetual training. Ask questions as part of your study of great word-craftsmen and women. Discover what's in the poem, if anything, for you as a reader and then ask the questions that will pull things out of the poem for you as a writer. 

1. What kind of title did the poet choose? Is the title appealing? Appropriate? Can you guess why the poet chose that particular title? Did it work? What did the title accomplish?  

Once you've worked the title over, move into the body of the poem.

2. Is the theme universal for reader identification? Could you relate to the message? The content? The imagery?

3. Did you readily pick out a focal point? Or did the poet try to chase baby quail through a maze of mesquite bushes? 

4. Did the poet use vivid word pictures?

5. Did he use strong and specific nouns? For instance, did she write tree or aspen? Or is the poem full of generalities? 

6. Did the poet make good use of figurative language—metaphors or similes, making thought-provoking comparisons? Here’s an example in an excerpt from my poem, Words in the Wind.

Shuffling through pre-fab

syntax, I deal out

pre-existing notions . . .

7. Did the poem appeal to your senses? Could you identify with the subject or topic through your sense of smell, sight, sound, touch, and taste? We tend to draw first from sight, often, ignoring the other senses. These excerpts from my poem, Then God Created Mothers, demonstrate appealing to the senses of smell and touch.

. . . wafted through the house like the aroma of fresh-baked cookies.    

Mixed emotions spilled over your face . . .

8. Are the verbs active as in, “Shirley presented the speech”? Or were they passive, using “to be” verbs, as in, “The speech was given by Shirley”?

9. Is the poem tight and concise? Or did the poet rely on adjectives, adverbs, and qualifiers (very, really, such)? 

10. Did you detect an attempt at a particular form? If so, was the poet consistent and artful in the form? Or did the rhyming words grind in cliches or fall in a futile stretch?

11. Read the poem aloud. Did you detect appealing echoes of sound?

12. Is there a strong sense of rhythm, beat?

When we know what works and why, it's easier to duplicate it within our own style. And by the way, these questions can provide a great tool for evaluating your own work as well as that of others. It’s not meant to stifle your creativity, but to enhance it.

So what are you waiting for? Relax with some poetry, keeping your notepad handy as you read well.

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