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VincentYu comments on More "Stupid" Questions - Less Wrong Discussion
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Along the lines of James_Miller's question: Why do people like poetry?
How do I get myself to like poetry? (Reading poetry seems like a cheap and respectable way to spend leisure time, if only it were pleasurable for me!)
Personally, I find it difficult to enjoy "typical" lyrical poetry, but I appreciate epic poetry a great deal more. Epic poetry not only aims to capture the drama of an event, but also to encapsulate an entire culture of a people. The Iliad and the Odyssey were the first two i have read, and they are not only about the Trojan War and the return home of one of its heroes, but it touches on every aspect of Greek society. War, love, food, honor, virtue, cowardice, honoring the gods, pissing off the gods, the gods pissing you off, hospitality, ethics, punishment, the afterlife, nobility and servitude, all touched upon.
For more conventional (and shorter) poetry, some of the enjoyment comes from the prosody and lyrical qualities of the poem. Reading them out loud increases my own enjoyment. Otherwise, there is oft a multitude of "senses" and meanings in poetry, which provides a pleasant meditation. Some quality poems to read (as a start) would be "the Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe, and "Ozymandias" by Percy Shelley
Satan has the best lines in Paradise Lost. And learning how to parse Milton's 17th century poetic English will give your brain a good workout. Besides, according to Dan Brown, evil transhumanists can become obsessed with classic literature. ; )
Also give Der Ring Des Nibelungen a look.
. . . What though the field be lost? [ 105 ]
All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to be overcome?
That Glory never shall his wrath or might [ 110 ]
Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deifie his power,
Who from the terrour of this Arm so late
Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,
That were an ignominy and shame beneath [ 115 ]
This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods
And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,
Since through experience of this great event
In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc't,
We may with more successful hope resolve [ 120 ]
To wage by force or guile eternal Warr
Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,
Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy
Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav'n.
Paradise Lost is the one book since early childhood that I've felt the need to read aloud. It's just so much more grand than anything else I've ever read.
What poetry have you tried? Perhaps it's only a question of finding the right author.
People appreciate words differently. Sometimes I'll hear a turn of phrase, just something someone says outside of any kind of artistic context, and it'll just feel really pleasant. Maybe it's the rhythm of the phrase, or the image it conjures up, or maybe it'll have some sort of immediate underlying theme. Some things just sound poetic, by various criteria my brain doesn't necessarily reveal to me, and if they sound poetic enough, they can be really, achingly beautiful.
Formal verse can often have a different appeal. It takes cleverness to express something in a constrained form, but from my experience in writing poetry, often that constraint helps promote good ideas to your attention when you're writing it. Seeing something difficult done well is satisfying.
A combination of the two can be extremely pleasurable to read or write.
I think it's sometimes related to liking wordplay. If you want to try to like it, I'd suggest reading a wide variety of poems to see if anything sticks. I'm not sure where one goes to find varied, good poetry, though.
You might try attending a poetry reading or two, Hearing them read and discussed might help.
I don't think of myself as someone who likes poetry.
But I can recite (sing) all the verses of "American Pie," and I love it. I spent an hour and a half reading different verses that have been sung as part of Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah."
Maybe I think I don't like poetry because I am spoiled by having my poetry sung to me in recorded fashion, but when I think of "liking poetry" I think of some anachronistic action of sitting there with a book reading poems printed on a page. Maybe I love poetry to death, I just call it "music" due to modern technology.
Are you one of those people who hear words in their mind while reading?
Yes, I subvocalize while reading. Why do you ask?
For me, much of the pleasure of poetry is that I like the way words sound in my mind when I read it (more specifically, the emotions they evoke).
Why would you want to get yourself to like poetry if you don't? Are you short of things to do that you do like?
A common reason why people don't like complex things is because they don't understand them and thus cannot appreciate most of what's being offered. Spending effort to understand e.g. some art has the potential to open up large areas of enjoyment.