A very good interpretation of what poetry is. Personally, not being any type of an English major, barely passing college requirements for a degree, I thought poetry was to evoke more feelings than experience. Well, unless experience is linked to emotion. I do not know for sure.

First step to enjoying poetry, Get a mental illness, brain injury or illness, then start wearing 1960 style suite jacket and a terrible weird coloured bowtie!

Some constructive criticism, if you are open to it. The introduction is annoyingly long. Consider that if someone is watching the video, they are probably already interested in the topic and go from there. You don't need to assume they don't care about it and try to entice them to actually care about it. With that in mind, the first 1 minute and 44 seconds are totally useless. The problem nowadays is that if you are interested in a topic there are so many options to learn it from, that it can be overwhelming. At least I usually skim through several videos to judge its quality and whether it covers what it claims to cover (i.e. is it click bait?). If you give a long, unnecessary introduction, people who actually want to learn about the topic, can get bored and close the video.

@@Diego20529 I have had no prior interest in poetry, but this video showed up on my feed, so I checked it out.

​@@danquaylesitsspeltpotatoe8307 Are you okay?

And when the experience is annoying, like, "WHAT depends on the wheelbarrow?" then I don't want to have that experience. Therefore, I don't want to read poetry.

​@@randomgrinnwell, why do you find it annoying? What turns you off of it

@@randomgrinn Clearly your mother depends on the wheelbarrow. Not many other options to move her around, considering how much she weighs.

Maybe stop reading the wheelbarrow poem. There are others.

I think the point is that poetry is just a medium of information. Like how reading a novel allows you to imagine the world, reading a poem also allows you to imagine a moment, or an experience, much like the explanation in the video. Art is really only enjoyed out of your own volition, and it's the artist's goal to make you get there. However if you yourself are inclined, you can get to that point without much push from the artist. As for poetry, who cares what the poem means? It's only about what you see in the poem. Maybe the chickens are rabid and the wheelbarrow really is full of your mother or something. As long as you like that interpretation. Convincing others of your interpretation is separate from what you care for it to be.

Do it ❤😊

Understanding Where once rested, a mysterious giant, Amorphous, intimidating form -- Light spread of source and knowledge connected, form melting, into something simple, something pure. @@Pandor18

Rekindled My body, so vibrant What is this I'm feeling Nostalgia, warmth, desire Now I'm finally seeing A once forgotten love In plain sight, a treasure hidden So simple, so wonderful Never overwritten

​@@Tuuubesh0wdamn bro publish that immediately

This is gold 🥇 ​@@Tuuubesh0w

Wow, that's a very cool way to put it! Thanks for your insight (I might have to borrow it sometime...)!

Nice metaphor.

I think it helps significantly to *experience* Shakespeare instead of just reading it. Shakespeare didn't intend for anyone to read his plays line by line in a classroom, his intention was for the majority of his audience to see and hear his plays onstage. I've acted in a Shakespeare play, putting it onstage transforms it. You could have never convinced me Macbeth is a great work by making me read it, seeing it is the only way to fully grasp it.

Very good metaphor indeed. You should write some poetry yourself :)

​@apollofell3925 yeah I wouldn't give MacBeth the time of the day if I had to read it. But having worked on a stage production in a youth group of children with disabilities, I goy great memories of it as a play. Be it more with making costumes talking about how we could enunciate different lines to make them believable. Shakespeare in school is just killing your brain over dead trees with even deader words on them.

I love that explanation--thanks!

Did your professor ever explain what's up with the weird breaks in the sentences? Because most of the time there's no rhythm, there's no particular meaning, it's just there seemingly with the sole goal of confusing the reader

@@helgenlane not all poems are like that though. Personally, I like the ones that rhyme.

But that's like saying pictures give you feelings where pixels fall short. It doesn't make sense! Now if your professor had said "where grammar/syntax/plot falls short" I'd get that.

This literally makes no sense at all. Poems don't use words? Poems are shared experiences? Neither one of those is true.

Ain't it the way? It is funny how some of the most fundamental things get left out where you'd think they're most needed. I'm really happy to hear this helped!

man, that must've been a poopy poetry class then

Bachelor's of Arts and Creative Writing* I'll have a frappucino with extra cream, thank you

I think this is true of so much education, even math.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

You're so very welcome--thanks for commenting!

I feel the same way. I’ve always thought that poetry was something (?) to figure out to find clever meaning within. That there were symbolic truths to be understood that if I labored long enough I’d get it. Logical, not an experience to feel. Can’t say my efforts were always successful and left not liking poetry very much. Thank you for a whole new perspective. I’m going back to reread a few. I’m optimistic and by the way I’m 78 years old too.

Love the explanation...feel a poem about to burst forth!!! Thx for the nudge!! Poetry!! 🖋️ 🗒️

oof i felt this

This made my day, so happy to hear this helped you see poetry in a different light. Poetry can be fun--as long as we stop worrying we have to get it "right." Here's to lots of pleasant poetry reading!

Try over standing it sometime. Blessings.

A school classroom is possibly the worst place to be introduced to poetry, since it's a context of right and wrong answers. Image been reading my kid poetry at bedtime his while life as just part of a mix of stuff requested and unrequested. Now I'm fully expecting him to disagree with the teacher when he finally gets to that stuff at school

As a Native American who is learning Spanish (the Language of God), I guess the video is decent. Jesus G. Maestro already made videos on poetry and its mechanism. His "Critica de la Razon Literaria" already delved into extensive detail, so I am happy this is spreading.

​@WritingwithAndrew thank you for this video, I agree with the comment at top

Yesss! That's the best possible news--there's a whole wide world of delightful poems just waiting for you to enjoy them. Thanks for taking the time to comment!

Blame pseudo-intellectual gatekeepers like George Steiner and Harold Bloom... then again the anglosphere has been pretty bad in Literature since the protestant reformation. Just compare the ghost stories between "Canterbury Tales" and "Macbeth", the former was almost picaresque and written by one man, while the later was a rational atavism that was spewed by who knows how many dozen anglos.

Well, it is more difficult to write.

I have had this opening as a result of this video too. I always thought I was not "learned" enough to really get it. I like what you said about stopping the gatekeeping - exactly right.

txs hermes

Thanks a bunch--have a lot of fun!

I really cant hate youtube. This is just what i needed to start my journey.

Right? Thanks--now I'm going to have to go read Birches!

A poem fan here. I have favorites like "Desirata", and ,,kvæðið um fuglina(translates to the poem about the birds). Icelandic, my native Icelandic is great for poems.

You spelled unemployed wrong

@@d3r4g45 you can have a job and be a poet in your freetime, that's the beauty of being human

​@@d3r4g45 spelt

Thanks! And you're right--this is the kind of approach that we always take in the writing workshops I've been a part of, very different (and more fun, I think) than what we encounter in other kinds of English classes

I'm honored! Here's to undoing the fear of poetry!

You sound like a good teacher who gives a damn!

That's awesome--thanks!

You're very welcome!

Thanks--I'm glad you did too!

Very cool insights--I have heard fiction writers say that learning poetry made their fiction much better, so I think you're on to something! Poetry is all about bringing readers into a distilled experience--why wouldn't that be beneficial for storytelling too? Cool stuff!

The movie ‘Manchester By The Sea’ is an incredible example of a poetic film… it’s not meant to have a message, but meant to be experienced… it’s not a film you “watch”- it’s a film you feel.

That's an awesome line--I'm going to hold onto that one!

Last place I thought I’d find a R.A.P. Ferreria quote but I love that you dropped one. Underappreciated artist.

Thanks--that's a great way to put it! It's the difference between telling someone to feel sad and telling them about a sad experience that causes them to feel the sadness, and I think it's what's at the heart of the familiar advice to show rather than tell.

When i was young i would always write poems whenever a visual experience captivated me I cant write anymore But i still have some of the poems

Very cool--that's the fun of it for sure!

Yes! Go write those poems!

If you catch your voice when reading out loud or to someone that's where the emotion is, enjoy the writing😊

Hooray! Definitely do give it a second chance--and thanks for watching!

@@WritingwithAndrew Your video convinced me! Well done!

Whoa, huge congrats on the win! I'm glad the video helped, but, for what it's worth, I think feeling like you have no clue what you're doing comes with the territory--you're in good company!

Hooray!

@@WritingwithAndrew It’s never to late to learn and to have the mind opened. This was a gift. Thank you.

You're welcome!

Yes--go read all of them!

That's lovely--thank you!

That's very kind--I'm glad you found it too! Thanks for the support!

Hooray!

I find myself repeating the first couple lines of that poem every so often, like having a tune stuck in my head

Hey thanks, I'm glad to hear it!

You're so welcome--I'm really happy to hear it!

Hey, thanks so much--I'm happy you're enjoying it!

You're very welcome! Analysis has its place, but it's sometimes nice just to be, to exist

You're welcome!

A thousand thanks in return!

That's awesome--you're welcome!

That makes my day--sorry things have been hard, but thanks for sharing!

Thanks, I appreciate that!

Don't think, feel!

Yeah, haikus are really good examples of poems to approach like photos. Come to think of it, they might be what got me started thinking this way in the first place...

I'm really delighted to hear it--thank you!

Hey thanks--I'm always happy to hear a video has helped someone!

Thanks! It's never too late--I'm glad you're finding your way back to poetry!

Thanks, I'm delighted to hear it!

Thanks--that would be a fun gig!

You bet--thanks!

Thanks for the suggestion--I'll put it on my list!

Nice--now we just need to get everyone else on board!

That really makes my day--thanks so much for taking the time to share! Keep on writing!

Another Williams classic--you're welcome!

Some people don’t like music 🥲

@@Aniyasimone___ . . . that sounds like a worrying disability.

HELPP

That's great! It's hard to beat a good haiku

that’s exactly how I felt too, with the first one. It’s almost haiku-esque even if a bit longer. I feel like Haikus get us into the imagery a lot more precisely because of their length and focus, more so than longer poems. Mary Oliver somehow combines both the evocative imagery of a haiku with the thoughts and feelings even when she does both show AND tell sometimes!

Poet to poet: thanks for the lovely addition!

You'd love Hegels take on poetry and art in general

I love this--I think my experience was similar: I can remember some childhood poems followed by frustration in high school. I'm glad the video helped--welcome back to the fun of poetry 🙂

@@WritingwithAndrew that's very interesting to know. Perhaps my theory is a little presumptuous. Children do seem to be more in awe of the world than adults and so they should have plenty of material to work with as poetry writers. Thank you for you generous reply.

@@Aeviae No problem! I'm pretty comfortable joining you in placing the blame on classroom-induced trauma...it's too bad, but at least those bad experiences don't have to be the end of the road

Thanks!

Yeah, great question--and I think I'd agree with your reading of the speaker's state of mind. I see a speaker who is overcome by an experience, and a writer who searches for a way to share it with people who weren't there. (Wordsworth's idea of poetry being emotion recollected in tranquility.) I had a teacher once who said that creative reading is as much a thing as creative writing, and I think that's a healthy way to look at it. Interpreting a poem, finding what is meaningful in it, is a useful and creative practice. But I think people then misunderstand and then think that a smart person's "creative reading" is the "only correct reading," which just isn't the case. Once a poem is written, readers can and will do whatever they want with it--but they shouldn't be afraid to read it because they think they might be wrong!

@@WritingwithAndrew Hi. Thanks for the thoughtful comment. :) Interesting, so you think the speaker and the writer are separate people in this poem? Or do you mean that the two are aspects of the same person? (Since the speaker is a creation of the writer's mind.) I agree with your teacher. I think we can draw a comparison between creative reading (and all other forms of art interpretation) and eating for pleasure. We're all free to eat the same meal the way we like it, no one can objectively tell which way is tastier: for example, some people like to eat their mashed potates first, then the meat, and some put a little of both on their fork. The taste of the meal will be a bit different with each variation, just like the effect of a work of art can vary from person to person, because people can combine the elements of the given work of art differently. The best way to eat for pleasure is the one that results in the biggest enjoyment, and the best way to interpret a work of art is the one that results in the most satisfying aesthetic experience (and both can vary from person to person). So art interpretation is much more similar to eating food than using a tool. If you have a tool, like a hammer, your possibilites are usually limited to the specialized task(s) that the tool is meant to help with. If you try to unscrew a screw with a hammer, you'll likely fail, so we can objectively say that some tools are more suited (therefore better used) for certain tasks than others. So the goal of a tool's usage is to a great degree fixed. Not so with art interpretation: if your goal with art interpretation is to have an aesthetic experience, then whatever gets you the experience (using the elements of the given work of art) works best for you. That said, I think there are some art interpretations that are richer than others: those that give the most coherent explanation of how the elements fit together. The reason for that is because the more you understand about a work of art, the greater your appreciation of it.

@@alittax Yeah, my experience with both writers and critics of poetry is that they (we?) recognize that there's a difference between the flesh-and-blood writer and the version of themselves as portrayed in a poem, the speaker. I like to think of the speaker as a persona--and it also helps because it makes talking about people's work less uncomfortably personal: "I'm just talking about the speaker--not you!" I also like what you say about eating and tools--for sure there are some interpretations that are richer than others, but it would be hard to say that any of them are "right." At least, not without a lot of discussion--and that's literature scholars are all over the place!

@@WritingwithAndrew That's interesting what you said about writers and their different personas. I haven't thought about it that way but it makes sense. I think we naturally like those explanations best that explain the most elements about a work of art. If someone, for example, keeps pointing out detail after detail in a painting, the feeling that we get as the whole thing starts to make more and more sense is pleasant, and the more this continues (the more details are pointed out as a coherent interpretation), the greater this feeling of aesthetic pleasure becomes. Although it's also natural to have a favorite way of interpreting something, even though there might be one that "makes more sense," where a lot more pieces fit together. But if our favorite way leaves us feeling more of this aesthetic pleasure, then that's the one that fulfills the intended role of the given work of art the best. And I think this is where subjectivity comes into play.

@@alittax You're right--all that subjectivity comes into play, and that's what makes it fun!