Poetry Appreciation

Don't get me wrong. With many poems I would be quite happy to vivisect them and go into all the different meanings and slants the learned scholars (!) have put on them over time. It's just, with favourite Christmas poems, it seems wrong somehow.

Having said that, when I read about the three trees and the white horse, that was interesting. [shrug. not had porridge yet]

I suppose I'm scared I might actually lose something by pulling it apart.

jingl I think examining a poem is a bit like wanting to know thw recipe for a lovely dish, in order to find out why it is quite so good. That is just my view, of course!

JO5 I am right with you there on over analysing. I would go with. "Does it sound good and make you think."

There are a lot of poems out there that are enjoyable but don't have the deep and rather obscure references which makes them more like cryptic crosswords than poems.

I find complex thoughts and ideas very interesting but I think in many circumstances they could easily be expressed in less obscure language. TS Elliot is not the best at this.

Oh no! The language is spot on!

"it was (you may say) satisfactory"

I think that was meant as a massive understatement. Although there are other explanations out there. I don't go along with them.

hi

On the "litttle blurbs" beside paintings in Galleries, I always find that they tell you things that you are not particularly interested to know - the exact date it was done, who the subject is if it is a portrait - when I would rather hear just how that effect of light flooding in was achieved, say, or why there is a little twig of oak leaves lying near Jesus' feet.

I went to a marvellous series of talks on "How to read paintings" which covered the difference between the uses of various mediums and the symbolism used in religious pictures, the attributes of the various saints who stand around and so on.

Those oak leaves were the badge of the Della Robbia family (robur = oak tree) which contained several Popes, who commissioned paintings and liked their patronage to be shown prominently.

Hi I am a published poetry writer only small time but aspiring

I once went to Venice (a celebration for my 50th with my 3 daughters - a sort of week-long cultural hen-party). One of my DDs had been living there for 3 months and she was studying art history at the uni - she took us round the galleries and shed so much light on the paintings - the techniques, the symbolism - and I learnt so much and got so much more out of the experience than I would otherwise have done. But at the same time I was also just blown away in a non-analytical way.

I think there is room for both approaches; analysis can illuminate; but an instant impression also has its place. Both have their value.

I am happy to hear people's analysis of a selected poem on this forum, and also to continue to read other poems in a different spirit.

The Betjeman one is pure heaven.

Just what Christmas used to be. Is it like that now? We can only try.

"That God was man in Palestine, and lives today in bread and wine"

Hello CHEELUH.

sorry! no 'H'!

Hi CHEELU I'm sure others will join me in saying welcome if they were on this strand. I'd love to hear more about your poetry

We have to wait to talk about the Betjeman. Apparently.

Well Ariadne if everyone is done with the Magi now I have no personal objection to moving on to another poem. It's just we can't really discuss more than one poem at once without chaos and confusion breaking don't you think?
Over to you to kick off on the next one.

Sounds good! I'll dig out the Betjeman now - the advent one is it?

Just dug out the Christmas poem by Betjeman.

It has his trademark "homeliness." It describes the everyday, and is very good at drawing us into the scene. It is also very much of his time and class. And of course it reflects his strong Christian faith. The last few lines express some regret at the commercialization of Christmas - but he also paints a benign picture of the modern (then) Christmas and does not dissmiss the importance of the gestures of generosity that characterise the Christmas season.

I love the line...."And girls in slacks remember Dad, and oafish louts remember Mum."

I love the rhyming and metre - all very simple and a bit Pam Ayres reallly - but it fits the piece so well.

Oh dear. I can't get into this poem. What am I missing please?

Ariadne yet another

Hi soop + ((hug))

...reciprocated, Butty

Soop - I can't understand your last two posts - what is that about please?

Jodi - I think you either like Betjeman or you don't! I did a photography exhibition based on his church poems and they are wonderfully descriptive, so I got a bit hooked on him then.

Mishap I was merely exchanging pleasantries with two friends.