Discover Walt Whitman’s remarkable life and the timeless poetry he created.
Poetry For Healing and Joy
It has been said that poetry can inspire, heal, and bring joy to people.
In his recent book Poetry RX, Normal Rosenthal writes that although “all literature can console, there is something about great poetry – its rhythms and cadences, its conciseness and brilliance- that has a power and charm all its own. One way in which poetry exerts its effect is that it is easier to remember, recall, and reproduce at will. We can at a moment’s notice dip into our memory and conjure up Wordsworth’s daffodils or Keats’ nightingale.”
Tips for Reading a Poem
Rosenthal offers some helpful guidance on how to get the most benefit from a poem
– Enjoy the poem! Give it your full attention. Poetry is to be enjoyed.
– Read the poem aloud. Appreciate the music and rhythm of its words. Poems were meant to be heard – not just read on a page. Rosenthal suggests that reading a poem aloud actually increases its therapeutic potential.
– Read the poem several times. A mark of a good poem is that it yields new insights and rewards with each successive reading.
– Use all your senses to fully engage the poem. A poem is not merely intellectual but sensory.
– You complete the poem by bringing your interpretation. “At the moment of completion, it may feel as if the pieces of a puzzle are falling together. You may delight in the aha! moment as you think ‘So that’s what the poet meant!’ Allow yourself to experience the wonder a poem provides when it opens up new spaces in which your mind can roam.”
– Listen to others read the poem. Many poems can be found on YouTube read by actors or by the poets themselves. A talented actor offers his or her interpretation that brings a poem to life.
– Appreciate ambiguity of feeling and thought. Many poems leave much to the reader.
– Notice the details. “Punctuation, the separation of lines, their placement on the page, form, rhythm, and rhyme as well as the white space that helps give the poem its shape, may all be part of what the poet is trying to communicate.”
Our Hope
It is our hope that In Search of Walt Whitman will spark or renew your interest in poetry and perhaps even fire your imagination to write your own!