Venting I don't understand poetry

[Adûnâi]

I don't and never did understand poetry. It all seems like pointless gibberish to me? Just tell me exactly what happened, what's the point rhyming? It just detracts from the meaning (if any is present)!

The Darkling Thrush

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.

www.poetryfoundation.org

But I know Chinese love poetry, does it mean I could never even become Chinese? (ok that's irrelevant, but the point stands). Of course, it doesn't help that English poets use weird words that I've never heard in my 15 years of speaking English. And even the rhythm sucks compared to Russian because English has so many consonant clusters, making rhyming ugly and contrived.

Feel free to hate poetry in this thread, or love it, I'm open to everything. Like blogger Rolo Slavskiy once said that alchemcal poetry is supposed to try to bring you into the frame of mind necessary for the magickal spell, so if you treat it as a map to a certain emotional state, it makes more sense. But meh.

To clarify a few more things:
1) no, I'm not forced to engage with poetry, I'm not forced to do anything;
2) I do like Tolkien's poetry, but only because:
a) I'm familiar with it, so it's part of my ideological zombification, it feels cozy being indoctrinated;
b) it's written in Elvish, I'm an Elven supremacist xd

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I like haikus tho.
They're simple and easy too.
It's snowing in Mt. Fuji.

 

[Pluto]

 

[NoPoint2Life]

Totally agree. I have never understood a single one. If they do rhyme, maybe I have a chance lol. I used to look around class in school and ask myself how the fuck people understood and interpreted these things.

And I tend to be very much the same with song lyrics. I can never figure out what the lyrics mean.

 

[GlassMoon]

Worst school subject ever, except for maybe P.E. and art. I somehow managed my way through it - mostly by knowing the general subject and struggles of the poets we were discussing. Then I looked at the poem and forced such an interpretation on it... our teacher was also really bad though and that did not help, as you can expect. Short stories were even worse, though.

I want to be the guy in this comic...

 

[LittleMagician]

I don't and never did understand poetry. It all seems like pointless gibberish to me? Just tell me exactly what happened, what's the point rhyming? It just detracts from the meaning (if any is present)!

The Darkling Thrush

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.

www.poetryfoundation.org

But I know Chinese love poetry, does it mean I could never even become Chinese? (ok that's irrelevant, but the point stands). Of course, it doesn't help that English poets use weird words that I've never heard in my 15 years of speaking English. And even the rhythm sucks compared to Russian because English has so many consonant clusters, making rhyming ugly and contrived.

Feel free to hate poetry in this thread, or love it, I'm open to everything. Like blogger Rolo Slavskiy once said that alchemcal poetry is supposed to try to bring you into the frame of mind necessary for the magickal spell, so if you treat it as a map to a certain emotional state, it makes more sense. But meh.

To clarify a few more things:
1) no, I'm not forced to engage with poetry, I'm not forced to do anything;
2) I do like Tolkien's poetry, but only because:
a) I'm familiar with it, so it's part of my ideological zombification, it feels cozy being indoctrinated;
b) it's written in Elvish, I'm an Elven supremacist xd

I like poetry because you can obtain meaning in what others may deem as gibberish

 

[patheticparasite]

I like poetry because you can obtain meaning in what others may deem as gibberish

Ah yes, I have that with song lyrics. It works best when I only understand half of the words.

 

[ForeverCaHa]

The Darkling Thrush is one of my absolute favourite Hardy poems. I remember reading it when I was 16. Reading it again now I appreciate it so much more.

As with any form of art, there isn't 'one true meaning', it really is up to the observer. That can make it tricksy though, I understand.

For me, The Darkling Thrush is about fear of change, fear of an unknown future, but the enduring hope that life will go on. It's darkly positive. Essentially saying that life is shit, but hope is there whether you want to acknowledge it or not. This is quite a common theme in Hardy's writing. 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' doesn't hold any punches in how awful life can be, especially for the weak and vulnerable, but it also shows the world's beauty. It's a fantastic novel that I would highly recommend to anyone.

Of course with a lot of stuff, context is important. Hardy was writing during a time of huge industrial change, the countryside he loved was being transformed by mechanical giants. I guess if he were writing today it would be about AI and how it's changing our own virtual landscape. Still, this is just my own conjecture.

I could ramble on and on and on about Hardy. I just adore his work. I went to see his gravesite in Poet's Corner, but the day I went his stone had been removed for repairs - just my luck!!

 

[Adûnâi]

Ah yes, I have that with song lyrics. It works best when I only understand half of the words.

To be fair, I do love poetry in languages I don't understand, or maybe they feel better suited for it than English? Take Tolkien's poetry in Elvish tongues. Or take Korean lyrics to their racist songs.

Paekjanpaeksŭng rotongtang sae sidaerŭl yŏlŏtta
Chŏnriramaŭi kisangŭl on sesange ttŏlchija
Ǒsŏ kaja ppalri kaja chŏnrima thakosŏ
Chilkaenyŏnkyehhoikŭl aphtangkyŏ nakaja
Ehye eyacha eyacha kongsanjuŭi sae ŏntŏki jŏki pointa!

Ever-victorious Workers' Party opened a new era
Let's show to the entire world the spirit of chollima1!
Let's go quicker, let's go faster, riding on the chollima
Forward, let's hasten the 7-year-plan!
Ehe eyacha eyacha! The new hill of communism can be seen over there!

This is quite a common theme in Hardy's writing. 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' doesn't hold any punches in how awful life can be, especially for the weak and vulnerable, but it also shows the world's beauty. It's a fantastic novel that I would highly recommend to anyone.

I have read the Wikipedia article, and it is indeed vile and disgusting, ew yuck /vomit

I consider this modernism part and parcel of the current Western rot, no wonder the contemporaries hated Hardy. I guess, I naturally gravitate to healthy, life-affirming propaganda rather than nihilistic Christian trash.

 

[Buh-bye!]

I don't and never did understand poetry. It all seems like pointless gibberish to me? Just tell me exactly what happened, what's the point rhyming? It just detracts from the meaning (if any is present)!

The Darkling Thrush

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.

www.poetryfoundation.org

But I know Chinese love poetry, does it mean I could never even become Chinese? (ok that's irrelevant, but the point stands). Of course, it doesn't help that English poets use weird words that I've never heard in my 15 years of speaking English. And even the rhythm sucks compared to Russian because English has so many consonant clusters, making rhyming ugly and contrived.

Feel free to hate poetry in this thread, or love it, I'm open to everything. Like blogger Rolo Slavskiy once said that alchemcal poetry is supposed to try to bring you into the frame of mind necessary for the magickal spell, so if you treat it as a map to a certain emotional state, it makes more sense. But meh.

To clarify a few more things:
1) no, I'm not forced to engage with poetry, I'm not forced to do anything;
2) I do like Tolkien's poetry, but only because:
a) I'm familiar with it, so it's part of my ideological zombification, it feels cozy being indoctrinated;
b) it's written in Elvish, I'm an Elven supremacist xd

Believe it's the subtleness and sometimes the relatability. Poems, real good ones are often not a subject of one and only one interpretation, that, my guy, helps some interpret it in their own way i.e. more relatable to their own situations/feelings, hence letting them feel it's something very dear to them, something they could gatekeep ( sort of a feeling ). Also something explicitly mentioned in words doesn't seem as wise as a poem or quote with subtle references since it just feels like it isn't for everyone, only the ones that could understand ( that would want to understand ), would like it. Personally, it feels good to 'write' poems ( although haven't done it in years now, so don't remember anything of those experiences ).
Artificial intelligence is taking over anyways, nobody now needs to bother with such beauties of the human mind.