Learning to Respond Well

We live in a world of literature-- both formal and informal. We are all exposed to it, and we all respond to it. We can learn to respond, just as we can learn to read. It can bring great fulfillment to our lives when we learn to respond in more sophisticated and interesting ways. How we respond to literature can be just as important as the literature itself.

The Norton Introduction to Literature suggests eight steps that we can take to begin to respond well to literature, and specifically to poetry.


1. Listen to the poem.

As I read Archibald Machleish's poem Ars Poetica I first just listened to how it sounded. I did not try to decipher its meaning, or force a confession from its lips. I simply listened to its beautiful sounds and followed its beautiful story. I loved its simple ending: "A poem should not mean/But be."

2. Record your expectations, beginning with the title.

I read Ars Poetica in a section of a book along with many poems all written about poetry. So although I wasn't familiar with the term "Ars Poetica" and it's implications, but I expected the poem to be about poetry. This affects how you begin to look at the poem. When you know it will be a poem about writing poetry, you frame certain expectations in your mind of what it will be about, and what it will be like. It can be interesting to note whether the poem follows or veers from the path you expected.

3. Read the syntax literally.

Read the poem literally! What is it saying? What do the sentences say? For example: "A poem should be motionless in time/as the moon climbs." This is literally saying that a poem should be motionless in time as the moon climbs. When put this way, we can see what he means more literally, and how it almost doesn't work as a comparison. This can lead to a more unique and engaging dialogue about the poem's meaning.

4. Consult reference texts.

For this poem, the reference text I consulted was the earlier stated Norton Introduction to Literature in order to help me better analyze the poem. However, you can also consult books full of the authors' other poetry, biographies of the author's life, the time period it was written, and any other reference texts you believe would be helpful. Adding information to your response from many different sources can bring great diversity and help avoid a narrowness of interpretation. The possibilities here are seemingly endless.

5. Look at the story or scene-- who, what, when, where, why?

Mcleish's poem sets a certain stage. The stage he sets is what a poem should and should not be. In a way he personifies poetry, and poetry becomes the setting itself. For example, he says that poetry should be "wordless" "motionless" and "mute." These are all characteristics he gives poetry which it would not normally have. Poetry is the who, the what, and the why. He also makes poetry a stage or setting by comparing it to "the moon behind the winter leaves," "a globed fruit," and "an empty doorway." In this way, poetry also becomes the where and the when as well. Seeing the poem this way can create a very interesting way to delve into its meaning.

6. Formulate your ideas on these questions: Why does it matter? What does it mean?

Looking at Ars Poetica I believe that it means that somehow poetry must become more than it can be. That the sum of its parts must be greater than the words on the page. A thing that is composed of words must somehow become wordless-- express the inexpressible, bridge a gap that cannot be bridged. This is important because this is what all art, poetry included often does for each of us. There are things in life that we must understand through means that become somehow greater than what they truly are. This helps us to come to terms and begin to understand the deepest parts of ourselves.

7. Look at the form.

Now it is time to dig into the poem's actual form. Now we get to look at Mcleish's incredible use of alliteration of L's and A's. We get to see how the line enjambments emphasize important ideas, and how the use of dashes in its punctuation are perfectly placed to keep us wanting more. We get to look at rhythm and rhyme and why the nuts and bolts of the poem work or don't work. Where the author followed known structure or left the path to forge their own way. We don't stop there though-- we ask how does this form help the meaning of the poem come to life? To me, I believe his use of form in Ars Poetica is meant to be lyrical and rhythmic, allowing us to feel that transcendency he wants us to feel.

8. Does the poem follow or go against conventions?

Finally we look at whether the poem follows or varies from traditional conventions, and how this adds to the meaning. I loved how Mcleish had a perfect balance of following and breaking conventions. He used a conventional rhyme scheme, yet left some lines to rhyme imperfectly. He used a conventional rhythm as well, but varied the enjambments of his lines to better fit his emphasis on meaning than on convention. I felt that where he varied, he varied on purpose, and all to achieve his desired outcome. I think his use of conventions supports the words of his poem! That a thing made of words should be wordless, that a thing that follows convention might be in some ways convention-less. This kind of interpretation leads to rich and deep inquiries.

When we dig deeper into poetry and approach it from many different angles, we can form a richer and more meaningful response to it. It is in this way that we can truly see it for what it is, and we can truly come to appreciate it as well. Our lives can be richer too, as we incorporate these ways of thinking into our daily responses to the many different kinds of literature that we meet.