Reading Poetry

6/14/07

I have been working quite a bit on my poem, and as I come across some of the problems I am having with memorization I have found that simply decoding the poem helps a great deal in this process. I think I have an advantage in the fact that I really like my poem. The first time I read it I thought about how beautiful it was. The words are put together so graciously, I find it hard finding anything I don't like about this poem.

As I was preparing to write my paper and put together my presentation to the class I found some very interesting things about Shakespeare himself. I realize that there will be a few other Shakespeare poems in the class, and that everyone (unless you have been living under a rock all of your life) knows something about him. He is such an important figure today, especially when it comes to literature. I don't want to give away too much of my presentation to the class, but I feel I need to address something very important that I came across. There was a page addressed to facts of Shakespeare and something struck me as a bit odd. Someone made the comment that much of Shakespeare's poems were directed at a student of his, about 19 years old, who he had an infatuation with. As soon as this was brought to everyone's attention who was posting on this site, the mood of the conversation changed dramatically. Many people lost focus of his work and viewed him as the "gay" person. They didn't care what a difference he is still making in terms of poetry, or all the beautiful things he wrote, but now he is gay, and that has changed everything.

Who really cares whom these poems are directed towards, female or male, they are still beautiful words. And who is to say if this information is in fact true? For all we know this could be the work of a random person who had nothing better to do with their time than to make up such a fabrication. The fact that Shakespeare is not here to defend himself, makes me see how unfair these assumptions are. I am very surprised also at how unforgiving these people seem to be considering the generation we are living in. We are growing up in a time when there are so many different life styles around us, yet we can't accept this?

So I have found that the best way to memorize poetry is not to memorize the words on the page, but to memorize the meaning behind those words.