09 October 2008

Read all poetry out loud.

I am absolutely enamored with the Romantic poets.

I have a poem to memorize for my course on the British Romantic Movement (I chose Keats's "To Autumn"), and reciting this poem over and over has made me realize how important it is to hear poetry spoken. There's much you can miss by solely doing a silent reading of a poem, or by reading it only a few times. My new goal is to memorize all of my favorite poems. My memory's never been great, but I suppose the only way it will improve is if I work at it.
In reading "To Autumn" out loud many times in an effort to commit it all to memory, I've lulled myself into a dreamy poetic loop that calls for sleep... wow, those images... "Conspiring with him how to load and bless / With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run"...

1 comment:

Ian said...

Romantic poetry is fantastic. And "To Autumn" is definitely one of the best poems ever. :)