"Poetry like music, needs to be heard"

Question

This is my most recent essay title that I have been given;

"Poetry like music, needs to be heard"

How vital to your understanding and enjoyment is the range of sound and rhythmical effects that poets enjoy. Explore the importance of sound in poetry.

I was just wondering what other people thought about this topic, and how they interpreted it. When I read poetry, I read it aloud even if it is only in my head. I can hear how the words need to be pronounced, is that important, does that classify as being "heard".

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Yes, that's a good beginning, J'aime. Consider reading it aloud for real. Consider rhythm and rhyme, assonance and alliteration. Consider the tintinnabulation of the bells. Look at something by Gerard Manly Hopkins.

Tallulah Tam · Answer

Hello J'aime, welcome to the forum. I have just read your other posts in "I'm not asking for the world"

I see that you are a fan of the classical poets Marvell, and Shelley. Do you prefer the old English language? Do you think the way poetry is written (in Old English, or Modern English) adds something to the poetry? Do you for instance think Old English is more rhythmical when read aloud?

Personally, I prefer Shakespeare the way he wrote it, any attempt to modernize Hamlet has fallen short. I HATED Kenneth Branagh's version, and Richard Burton did it once I believe, without costumes. All awful. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, (and this is slightly off point) but Mel Gibson's version of Hamlet is the best I have seen.

Back to poetry. Ted Hughes always enjoyed reading his own poetry aloud. His booming voice, his cadence and emphasis gave it the best presentation, and drew crowds of people to hear him.

My favourite poem is "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes, if you have never heard of it, pull it up on Google. Try reading that poem aloud, wonderful rhythm, THE BEST, it moves me to tears every time I try.

J&apos;aime La Meilleur · Answer

Thanks, Yes I do like the Old English poets especially the Victorians and the Romantics. They do have a wonderful style and I think it's fascinating how literature mirrors the events of that era.

My favourite Shakespeare sonnet is 130, and back to the films. Although I loved the play King Lear, I hated it when I saw it on stage. But Much Ado About Nothing I loved.

What's your favourite Shakespeare sonnet?

Tallulah Tam · Answer

Did you read "The Highwayman"?

My favourite Shakespearean Sonnet is from "Sonnets To Sundry Notes of Music". Number V

Tallulah Tam · Answer

And, if you are interested, my favourite speech is from Henry V  Act 111 Scene 1. (brave man old Henry)

J&apos;aime La Meilleur · Answer

Yes I read The Highwayman, it's very good, however quite lengthy!!

What do you think of the rhyming of poetry in Older poetry as opposed to the modern day?

I think they were a lot more concerned with structure and form in those days, rather than today where we see the appearance of a lot of free verse.

Tallulah Tam · Answer

J'aime, it seems slightly contradictory to me that you complain of the length of The Highwayman, when it is telling a story in the simplest most rhythmic way, (and your original query was about rhythm,) and yet you say you are a fan of both Shelley and Marvell! Have you actually read any of Andrew Marvell's poetry? Try reading "The Last Instructions To A Painter," or better still, try reading "A Letter to Doctor Ingelo" in Latin, as we had to do at school; that will REALLY make you appreciate Alfred Noyes' poetry. Since you like the classical poets and we are on this subject, what about the length of "The Song of Hiawatha" by Longfellow, or "The Prelude" by William Wordsworth? Hardly limericks!

To answer your other two queries. Personally I like poetry that rhymes. Free verse is not really verse, I do not think of it as poetry at all. I could arrange this whole message into free verse. But still having said that, some free verse is wonderful! Here is an example. This is a poem Frida Kahlo wrote to her husband.

The Man.

The vegetal miracle of my body's landscape is in you the whole of
nature.
I travese it in a flight that with my fingers caresses the round hills,
The ....valley's
longing for possession and the embrace of the soft green fresh
branches covers me.
I penetrate the *** of the whole earth,
its heat embraces me
and in my body everything feels like the freshness of tender leaves.
Its dew is the sweat of an always new lover.
It is not love nor tenderness nor affection,
it is the whole of life,
mine that I found when I saw it in your hands,
in your mouth and in your *******.
In my mouth I have the almond taste of your lips.
Our words have never gone outside.
Only a mountain knows the insides of another mountain.
At times your presence floats continuously as if wrapping all my
being in an anxious wait for morning.
And I notice that I am with you.
In this moment still full of sensations,
My hands are plunged in oranges, and my body feels surrounded
by you.

J&apos;aime La Meilleur · Answer

Tallulah, I wasn't complaining about the length I simply mentioned it in passing, one of my favourite poems "To A Skylark" by Percy Bysshe Shelley is 21 stanzas long.

I am also quite capable of reading and understanding poetry in Latin, so don't worry on that score. And I have read several of Andrew Marvell's poems however his To My Coy Mistress is my favourite.

Tallulah Tam · Answer

J'aime, it was the two exclamation marks that made me think you were complaining.

Talking about rhythm and that poem by Shelley, "To A Skylark" The beauty of the poem is in the last line of every verse. The first four lines could be set to the music of We Plough The Fields And Scatter" but that long line at the end that's the clincher - I can't think of a hymn to quite fit that beat, can you? The words really don't do anything for me. Poetry is very subjective.

I think we should part company here J'aime, we do not have the same taste, and by the way the title of that Marvell poem is, "To His Coy Mistress." You may not think it's much, but it would make a difference in a court of law whose mistress she was.

MrPedantic · Answer

How vital to your understanding and enjoyment is the range of sound and rhythmical effects that poets enjoy. Explore the importance of sound in poetry.

I was just wondering what other people thought about this topic, and how they interpreted it. When I read poetry, I read it aloud even if it is only in my head. I can hear how the words need to be pronounced, is that important, does that classify as being "heard".

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Hello JLM

I don't much care for a bouncing rhythm or obvious sound effects. These lines by Tennyson seem slightly too pleased with themselves, for instance:

"The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees..."

Poets seem to have their favoured sequences of vowels and consonants. It means you can often tell the author of even a tiny fragment. Marvell for instance uses lots of small vowels – lots of little metallic i and e sounds, interspersed with broad ay (as in "today"). You find something similar in Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra; though not so much in the other plays.

Have you run across the poems of Marianne Moore?

MrP

"Poetry like music, needs to be heard"

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