I think Adrian, that Victoria is referring perhaps to this bit of dialogue in the play:
“I don't always understand poetry!'
'You don't always understand it? Timms, I never understand it. But learn it now, know it now and you will understand it... whenever.”
It does hold true this.
Poetry is special because it is easy to memorise. You can internalise it (much like music and song) and then it becomes a little piece of you.
And you can find yourself experiencing something and suddenly those lines will appear and become part of the moment, part of the memory. And yes, suddenly you do understand it.
I'd agree with you Adrian - I find poetry hugely influential, especially for description and capturing moments in small phrases. I think that reading a lot of it can also help you to think more about the rhythms of your sentences, even in prose. My favourite more modern poets are Ted Hughes, Auden, Philip Larkin, Ian Patterson, Seamus Heaney, Gillian Clarke, Wilfred Owen, Sylvia Plath and Rupert Brooke. Older poetry I don't tend to find as stimulating, but I do like Ben Jonson and Shakespeare for their sonnets. Byron, Shelley and Keats and also lovely but I find that only the odd lines from their poems stick in my head.
Sometimes if I want to be inspired - or am just looking for something nice to read - looking on online poetry magazines can be really helpful. You get to read loads of lovely things and it's easier to form your own opinions, as none has the preposessing quality of being written by somebody famously conceived to be good. One of my favourite poems is one that I came across quite by chance on such a site.
One poem I carry with me (in my head) is this one by Hugh MacDiarmid:
http://allpoetry.com/poem/8544265-Perfect-by-Hugh_MacDiarmid
And this one by W.B. Yeats:
http://www.bartleby.com/146/11.html
Enjoy! :)
I think Adrian, that Victoria is referring perhaps to this bit of dialogue in the play:
“I don't always understand poetry!'
'You don't always understand it? Timms, I never understand it. But learn it now, know it now and you will understand it... whenever.”
It does hold true this.
Poetry is special because it is easy to memorise. You can internalise it (much like music and song) and then it becomes a little piece of you.
And you can find yourself experiencing something and suddenly those lines will appear and become part of the moment, part of the memory. And yes, suddenly you do understand it.
It's special in this regard.
I'd agree with you Adrian - I find poetry hugely influential, especially for description and capturing moments in small phrases. I think that reading a lot of it can also help you to think more about the rhythms of your sentences, even in prose. My favourite more modern poets are Ted Hughes, Auden, Philip Larkin, Ian Patterson, Seamus Heaney, Gillian Clarke, Wilfred Owen, Sylvia Plath and Rupert Brooke. Older poetry I don't tend to find as stimulating, but I do like Ben Jonson and Shakespeare for their sonnets. Byron, Shelley and Keats and also lovely but I find that only the odd lines from their poems stick in my head.
Sometimes if I want to be inspired - or am just looking for something nice to read - looking on online poetry magazines can be really helpful. You get to read loads of lovely things and it's easier to form your own opinions, as none has the preposessing quality of being written by somebody famously conceived to be good. One of my favourite poems is one that I came across quite by chance on such a site.