Hard-to-Understand Poetry

[cooltodd]

Some poetry is hard to understand. The poets may not specify the point of their poem and the reader has to try and infer it from the blurry cover of symbolism and metaphor. Additionally, the topic may be so deep and/or intricate that even the author doesn't know exactly what he or she means (which is why the author uses poetry to try and express it than explicitly with plain old literal language).

Do you like poetry that is hard to understand? Do you find it deep and interesting? Or, do you prefer poetry that you can comprehend completely and easily?

[Linda]

Sometimes i like knowing exactly whats going on when i read...thats when i read a book. books are much longer and have room for alot of detail. Poems are usually much shorter and don't allow as much room to completely describe what is infact going on. I think sometimes i read poetry because to me it's easier to relate to since i oftentime have to fill in the blanks as to what i think is happening. Poetry gives us more freedom to feel included if that makes any sense. For me tho since the lines are a little blurry i can put myself closer to the authors emotions because their not as specific.

hopefully u got what i was trying to say lol.

[daclawson2]

Sometimes poetry is hard to understand and I find that the hardest poetry to understand is my own. There is a event that many of my professors give us. I suppose a while ago Kurt Vonnegut visited Ball State University and a student asked him if he meant this in his writing or did he mean this other thing. To which he asked, "Well what do you think I meant?" The student said that he thought Vonnegut meant the first one and Kurt said yes. The student asked if he meant the other one to which he also said yes. This event is kind of the purpose of writing and reading poetry, that the reader is supposed to get their own meaning from it. There is honestly no room for the author's intent in poetry. A lot of times readers see things in poems that authors of those poems do not. So it is not important to get "the" meaning of a poem but to get "a" meaning from it. Sometimes poetry is hard to understand but that alone is not a reason to dislike it. You can like a poem for other aspects.
I totally didn't understand John Berryman's 77 Dream Songs but I really liked his syntax and other poetic devices. So as a reader you have to subject yourself to the poem and as a writer subject yourself from the poem. In other words, get you own meaning from the poem and realize that people will get there own meaning from your poetry. To me, that seems to be the idea of poetry.

[msstroda]

Obscene Dichotomy


Voices calling, shrieking at me.
What can I do to appease?
My head full of screams, a heart
full of pain, my body shaking and ill
at the fear.
I can't seem to still them,
I want to be free.
With no end in sight,
the tunnel is dark,
my mind shouts obscenities
only I hear.
Seething with hate,
teeming with love,
the dichotomy shredding my soul;
evident pain in my eyes as I stare
blankly at nothing, yet
everything there.

[msstroda]

Tilt


Tilting at windmills... feeling the pain...
the wheels slowly grind... as we look all
around...but don't see... something missing...
what?... we don't know... only the pain...
do we feel... can it be lost?... can it be
found?... Can nothing exist but the pain?...
tilting at windmills... feeling such pain...
finding... the wheels slowly grind... in the
end... as we see what was missing so long...
something still missing... what?... we don't
know... only the pain do we feel... can it
be lost?... did we want it at all?... or will
we just stay... in the grip of the pain... as
as our lives slowly go into tilt... tilting
at windmills... feeling no pain...
discarding... not important at all... nothing
was missing... only misplaced... inside of
ourselves... to be found after bridging the
pain... as the wheels still continue to grind.

[angeleyes]

Some poetry is hard to understand..
trying to find the meaning takes time.

[newspeak]

I like poetry that is difficult to understand because every time I read it, it takes on a new meaning. Michael Stipe of REM never explained his lyrics because he didn't want to rob the listener of any personal meaning.

[Niphredil]

To a certain extend, I suppose it's true that a poems meaning exists not in the poet OR the reader, but somewhere between the two.

However, don't you think it's the mark of a truly great poet when a "deep" theme is dealt with in a way generally understandable? I guess you could see the poetic inspiration as like a whirlwind in the centre of a poet's mind. Everyone has the same whirlwind, not just the poet. But the poet can express it. For me poetry that is deliberately hard to understand is an example of the poet trying to represent the whirlwind as he or she feels it, rather than explaining or trying to make sense of it. Which may be an honorable endeavor in itself, but to me seems a little less beautiful than a poem that tries to strike that common note in everyone by striving to be understood.

Having read that through even I barely get what I mean...it would make a good "deep" poem .

[Rafi]

I feel that certain poets can be difficult to understand initially, John Donne for example, with his continous use of the conceit. But difficult poetry can be immensely rewarding, with hard work you begin to understand the mindset of the poet. This is most evident in the case of John Donne, who uses crude imagery more often than not, leading to my conclusion that he was indeed a sexual deviant.

[newspeak]

To a certain extend, I suppose it's true that a poems meaning exists not in the poet OR the reader, but somewhere between the two.

However, don't you think it's the mark of a truly great poet when a "deep" theme is dealt with in a way generally understandable? I guess you could see the poetic inspiration as like a whirlwind in the centre of a poet's mind. Everyone has the same whirlwind, not just the poet. But the poet can express it. For me poetry that is deliberately hard to understand is an example of the poet trying to represent the whirlwind as he or she feels it, rather than explaining or trying to make sense of it. Which may be an honorable endeavor in itself, but to me seems a little less beautiful than a poem that tries to strike that common note in everyone by striving to be understood.

Having read that through even I barely get what I mean...it would make a good "deep" poem .

Certainly, poetry is contextual. There are times when meaning needs to be evident. Langston Hughes is an example that comes to mind. He poetry was written, in part, to evoke change so it was essential that the meaning was clear.

I was mostly refering to the thread topic and stating my preference for ambiguous poetry. Of course there is a need for all types of poetry.

BTW, I don't think Donne was a sexual deviant. His poetry is hot.

[mchelle]

sometimes i think the best poems don't need to be understood - it is a mood, a feeling that is brought to you by the words - sometimes if you look too deep into it the poem loses its mystery and appeal.

[sharon.gmc]

I think it's the beauty of poetry. You need to unravel a lot of things. You need to struggle with it. When you finally reached understanding, it gives an incomparable satisfaction.

[christy]

If you are trying to inquire then honestly, the poetry is not so much difficult to understand of Rother Bonald. He is great poet man

[TheoGio]

Yes, poetry, like art can be and really should be very personal.

I like many ifferent styles of poetry, and do like to be challanged with metaphor.

One of my favorite poets is eecummings.

[mrsdalloway]

The 'hard to understand' concept is very relative. Someone who hasn't been reading poetry for very long may find a certain poem difficult, while an English student at uni for example may find the same poem pretty staright foward. It comes down to the reader's literary, language, background and biographical knowledge of the poem/poet. 'specifying' the point of a poem is not necessarily a good thing. The reader should be able to 'read between the lines', as it were. There are poems which shout out the themes/subject matter. But less obvious ones can be even more interesting. Most importantly, a poem doesn't have to have ONE meaning! There isn't one correct and definate interpretation of a poem, everyone will read it differently.
There is of course 'elitist' poetry. Take T.S. Eliot, not 'easy' to read. But beautiful. If someone reads his poems but can't understand them, it's not an indication of the poet's incompetence - quite the opposite, it's the reader who doesn't have the 'ability' or 'skills' or 'sensibility' or whatever to make sense of it. Instead of being annoyed with the poet, they should do something about it, read more poetry (more slowly), read criticism of the 'mysterious' poem, and in the end, anyone will be able to understand any poem. (: