If you’ve enjoyed this week…
In this article, Dr JT Welsch provides some further ideas for approaching the themes we have explored in week one of our course, ‘How to Read a Poem’.
This week, we’ve explored our favourite poetry, and what connects us to it. If you want to explore more poetry, and hear about the favourite poetry of poets and listeners, then you should have a listen to BBC Radio 4’s Poetry, Please. This radio show invites both poets and listeners to detail their favourite poems, and what makes them so special. There are lots of wonderful recitations in these programmes, too. BBC Radio 4 – Poetry, Please.
If you enjoyed our first foray into poetic theory, when we read excerpts from T. S. Eliot’s Tradition and the Individual Talent, and Annie Finch’s Female Tradition as Feminist Innovation, then you may like to explore poetic theory further. The Poetry Foundation website has a whole section on ‘Poetic Theory’, and you can find the full articles of both Eliot and Finch’s work there. You can also find some of the most important writings on poetry by a host of theorists, including: Adrienne Rich, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Langston Hughes. Each article contains insightful and summative introductions, to ensure that you never get lost on the way. The Poetry Foundation – Poetic Theory.
Do join us for Week Two, in which we will examine form, ways of analysing poetry, and the publication process.
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