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“Poetry is just the evidence of life. 
If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.”
   

         -Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet and musician



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Are you a student who dreads the poetry unit in English class each year?  Do you cringe when asked to compose an original poem of your own, or worse, recite the poem aloud?  For some, poetry can feel like a locked box and only the teacher or a few lucky students hold the key. 

If you are someone who feels that poetry is an unwelcome puzzle you are being asked to solve, consider this:  it is possible to not only understand poetry but to actually enjoy it.  The key is to find poetry that speaks to you, that feels like it was written to describe a feeling or an experience you have had in your own life.

“A poem begins as a lump in the throat,
a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.”

-Robert Frost, poet



Think about your favourite song.  Listen to the lyrics carefully.  Does the songwriter play with words, paint pictures with language, or express emotion simply through the repetition of a single powerful line?  Song lyrics can be every bit as powerful as any written poetry.  You may not always understand every line of a song, but you can make a reasonable guess at the song’s overall meaning and mood.   

The same is true for traditional poetry.  Try not to be too concerned about understanding every line of poetry and correctly identifying every poetic technique.  Instead, use the skills you learn in this portion of the unit to unlock the meaning and emotion of a poem.  These skills are the keys to solving the puzzle of poetry, so that just like your favourite music, it can become an anthem for your life.

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