Understanding Poetry (An Introduction to Its Meanings)

Understanding Poetry
(An Introduction to its Meanings)


Dr. Dennis L. Siluk, Ed.D.
Three Time Poet Laureate




The Council of the Continental University, Los Andes University, the UNCP University, the Journalist Professional Association and Cultural Center of Huancayo, Peru, congratulates and recognizes

In English and Spanish


Understanding Poetry
(An Introduction to its Meanings)

Copyright ©Dennis L. Siluk, 2009



Epigram

“Listen, my friend
there are two things in the world that satisfies,
and that is: peace with God, and a meeting with a poem!”

D.L. Siluk 6-12-2009


…
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

(Sonnet 60, Shakespeare)














Contents


Front Painting of the author by Yang Yang
International Chinese artist (2000)

Back picture of Donald Hall, United States Poet Laureate
And Dr. Dennis L. Siluk


●


Epigram by the Author

Shakespeare, from Sonnet 60

Preface

What is a high-quality Poem and Poet?

Poems and their Genres

The Meaning within the lines of the poem (simplified)

Reviewing a Poem

Western Style Poetic Schools

Essentials of Poetry: made simple

Preferred Poets
((Here are a few poets from my Personal selection) (not in any order))


Psychological Objects in Writing a Poem
Or about a poem


Poetic Language

Some Poetic Forms





Preface


The first endeavor of this edition has been to provide the student or interested person, or to provide knowledge to someone seeking the fundamentals of poetry: a text which cares for the unique characteristics of poetry. In a sense, poetry is a hut with dampness and plaster like skin that often needs to be mended, and if not, it penetrates, and ashes, and dust clutter the hut and must be cleaned before one can understand it fully, especially the new person seeking knowledge.
The second idea behind this book is to provide a sufficient and simple apparatus for the reader, so he or she may understand the remarkable poems by the many poets God has sent us, with appreciation as far as possible.
Much of literature is not easy to read or understand, with this in mind, I have taken this into consideration, with my third objective, for there are many theories held, poetry is just for the advanced reader—the nature of poetry, good poetry, has been written for the whole environment, all of mankind. Thus, knowing the elements and details of poetry, and being able to identify such characters in writings of poetry or reading it, it is to the reader’s advantage to know all he or she can of its structure.
On the other hand, the more linguistic part of this book is principally directed towards determining the meaning of a poem, by cutting it up in proportion. A full and careful analysis— and here with this information, it is possible. The contents herein are natural and the vocabulary is well-to-do with its subjects, but simple in understanding.












What is a high-quality Poem and Poet?


First of all, ‘What is a good poem,” is mostly, subjective, yet, it must be defined, and not by the elements of poetry per se, or genres, or selected poets, but by how it is written. So no matter what poem you pick to be a good poem, it may not be, once it is put into this category, and put in front of an audience.

A good poem to me is one which involves the whole audience you are speaking to, or reading the poem to. It is when the sum total people in the audience are effected, submerged sensory and emotionally, mind and soul into the poem; when those folks you are reading to, can recognize completely with the point of view, and truth of the poem.

Any fool with a cleaver mind, and first-class vocabulary, can create a poem that any other fool can listen to. But a good poet creates a poem so that an insightful mind can share and be encouraged by his thoughts….

This is a job in itself, to be able to create a poem so as to draw a dull imagination into its magic charm; this is art, and that is the creation of a true mastermind.




Poems and their Genres

We have a wide category of Genres to place poems into, or to take out them out of: such as, the Epic (a long, serious narrative poem), or the Dramatic (poetry written in dialogue or monologue), or the Lyric (the inner experience story, with a rich voice), the Ode (usually emotional, celebrating someone or something), and the Elegy (usually brought on by sorrow, a death that has taken place) and Prose poems (those used in a form of free verse, lacking the normal shape of poetry—perhaps a distinguishing feature might be, figurative language).








The Meaning within the lines of the poem (simplified)


1) The Metaphor: similarities between two objects, ideas or phrases, one substituted for another.

2) Simile: a figure of speech. A comparison of two objects.


3) Personification: a figure of speech that gives human qualities to non-living objects or ideas.

4) Symbol: an image that means more that what the image consist of. A symbol represents something.

There are of course more meanings within the lines of poetry, to extract, but these are what I considered the most widely used.



Reviewing a Poem:


Normally I would say: only a poet can review a poet, or a poet’s poem, if indeed it is to be made public. Other than that, those who wish to do a more in-depth review of a poem for personal reasons, this may help: as with anything else you must know where you are headed in this investigation. Ask yourself, “What is my objective?” You have to do a careful reading, and re-reading. Reading it in your mind, and aloud, to hear the poems usage of sound. Perhaps it has a historical situation that must be looked at, as if written in a wartime situation. Look at the details of the poem (how everything works together). The end result I look at is, how they all work together to produce the overall effects. It is to me, the effect the poem produces in the person that makes it what it is. Anyhow, here are a few things you may want to remember about a poem:


1) Read the poem, slowly, and with an open mind, read it three to five times, carefully, jump into the mind of the poem, and poet. You may not understand what the poem is about right away. It is for the most part a condensed story. Don’t look at the poet, or his life while reading the poem, it will distract the effect he or she wants to draw into you. If you can’t do this, you can’t judge the poem.

2) Data, we are in a world of data, or information gathering. Pick up a pencil or pen, and start chopping it apart if you wish, look at what you find interesting and underline it, a good poem, will help us look at things in a different way, perhaps bring out things hidden, the rhyme scheme, providing it has one, before the 11th Century, they seldom did, rhyme although can force the mind to connect certain words to certain emotional impulses. If you at this point can not get the big picture, don’t worry, you’re not through.

3) The Overall View: you can look at the whole outline of the poem, deliberate its whole meaning or purpose, it should have one; although it may not be the one you are looking for. Some of these are big questions.




Western Style Poetic Schools



Poetry is a form of communication, using often times: rhythm, meter and sound; perhaps one can parallel it with: songs or chants, prayer or meditations, and forms of narrative dialogue. Poetry has an elevated attachment to recital, presentation than prose per se. When we look backwards, what you see is this:


1) Old English AD 650, poetry used in the form of oral tradition, the bard, in manuscripts in monasteries.

2) Middle English AD 1066, when French culture intertwined forming the French lyric and syllabic meters. This is when Rhyme appeared in English Poetry, and the form of the ballad emerged.

3) Renaissance AD 1500, humanistic culture was focused on, mankind rather than on God (sad to say). Here is where the modern lyric appeared, and classical meters into English verse, and the fourteen-line sonnet. And the renowned ‘Baroque,’ music and style poetic style extravagant imagery emerged.

4) Romanticism AD 1799, it was the period of time poets celebrated the imagination over rationality, and passion and dreams over reason. There was great emotion.

5) Victorian Period: AD 1832, this period differentiated between the prior and the new propriety and owning of things, especially patriotism, and religious faith.

6) Symbolism: AD 1890s, it was almost the opposite of the prior period, now Poetry often rejected social values, and returned to the imitative freedom of romanticism, the mystical.

7) Modernism, AD 1914, this period re-looked at what poetry was, perhaps should be. It was a breakdown of forms and styles. And poets looked at language, intensity, imagery, and the complexities of stresses. It also embraced ‘free verse’.

8) Postmodernism: AD 1965, I suppose you could say this was my period, my first poem being written in 1959, and my high school poems being put into the newsletters in high school, in 1964 and 1965. But what we have here is the re-examination, as in the nature and function of poetry. It rips at the old cultural forms of poetry, and looks hard at the basic assumptions about language. Much has to do with personal confession (as with Sylvia Plath’s poetry, and Anne Sexton’s). Much of this poetry is without a voice, theme or recognizable form. Free Verse being the dominate form of Postmodernism.



Essentials of Poetry: made simple


1) What is Verse? A line of poetry (or the word itself: poetry)

2) What is Meter? A pattern created in the line of poetry (stressed syllables)

3) What is the Foot? The vital unit of the accentual-syllabic line)

Example: Demeter: two feet
Trimeter: three feet

Note: the foot, feet or basic unit are made up of and stressed and unstressed syllables in a line.







Preferred Poets
((Here are a few poets from my Personal selection) (not in any order))


●Robert Frost
●Sylvia Plath
●George Sterling
●Robert Bly
●James Wright
●Juan Parra del Riego
●John Keats
●Cesar Vallejo
●Robert E. Howard
●Robert Service
●Carl Sandberg
●William Shakespeare
●Dylan Thomas
●Edgar Allen Poe
●Elizabeth Barrett Browning
●Clark A. Smith
●Emily Dickinson
●Ezra Pound
●Robinson Jeffers
●W.H. Auden
●Frank O’Hara
●Homer (Greek)
●Sappho (Greek)
●Virgil (Latin)
●George Trakl
●T.S. Eliot
●Jorge Luis Borges
●Robert Browning
●Walt Whitman
●Dennis L. Siluk
●James Joyce













Psychological Objects in Writing a Poem or about a poem


1) Who is the Speaker?

2) Who is the audience?

3) What is the main subject of the poem?

4) Does the poem belong to a style, class or Genre?

5) What is the form and meter of the poem?

6) What figure of speech is used in the poem?

7) Are there any contradictions in the poem?

8) Is there a relationship between: form, poem and its meaning?

9) Is the mind of the poem, its beginning relative to its end?

10) Does the writer change styles in the poem, if so does it hurt it or make it better?














Poetic Language

We are looking at a herd of horses here (a figure of speech). That is to say, when we create a poem, we have choices, and these will dictate what words go on those poetic lines you will be writing. These words will create sounds and colors inside the readers head. Emotions, attitudes, abstract ideas, and so on…this is the language of poetry:

1) High diction means: supplication, perhaps abstract nouns, and complex figures of speech. (Shakespeare or Homer; Beowulf; Geoffrey Chaucer)

2) Low diction means: perhaps a less cultivated speaker, less grammatical complexity. (Dennis L. Siluk or Robert Bly, perhaps Emily Dickenson)

3) Image: a verbal picture

4) Theme: a major idea

5) Tone: the speaker’s voice, revealing attitude, toward the theme or subject of the poem.

6) Allusion: a reference in a poem…

7) Alliteration: the repetition of sound or stressed syllables, to reinforce significance. Example, the continued usage, or repeated use of ‘s’ in a poem or line, or ‘f’ or ‘d’ whatever: i.e., “My darling, dear, how dreary you seem…” Or, “She sure can be sweet and sour…” Something on that order.

8) Repetition: The repeating of the same, such as: sounds, lines or elements of syntax. The sacred Jewish books or Bible in general, in its poetic forms, use this. Sometimes this can bring on a hypnotic sense of being. The line becomes diluted, but dizzying, an example might be (William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, all used this in their prose writings, as well as poetry, to embed into the minds of the readers, what they wanted them to remember:


Example from: “To Have and Have Not” by Ernest Hemingway

“…and Harry saw the gun muzzle jump-jump-jump-jump and heard the bop-bop-bop-bop, small and hollow sounding in the wail of the siren.”




Some Poetic Forms:

1) Ottava rima: an eight-line stanza with iambic pentameter and the rhyme scheme is: ABABABCC.
2) Haiku: a Japanese form, with seventeen syllables in three lines: five, seven and five per line in that order (in English translation, these counts can be overlooked)
3) The Sonnet: fourteen-lines, a lyric poem traditionally in iambic pentameter. The Shakespearean sonnet: ABAB CDCD EFEF and a couplet rhymed GG. There are three kinds of sonnets: Italian, Spenserian (a variant on the Shakespearean form), and Shakespearean.























Books by the Author


Books Out of Print


The Other Door (Poems- Volume I, 1981)
Willie the Humpback Whale (poetic tale)
(1982; 1983, 2008, four printings (forth in Spanish & English)
The Tale of Freddy the Foolish Frog (1982)
The Tale of Teddy and His Magical Plant (1983)
The Tale of the Little Rose’s Smile (1983)
The Tale of Alex’s Mysterious Pot (1984)
Two Modern Short Stories of Immigrant life [1984]
The Safe Child/the Unsafe Child [1985] (for teachers, of Minnesota Schools)


Presently In Print

The Last Trumpet and the Woodbridge Demon (2002) Visions
Angelic Renegades & Raphaim Giants (2002) Visions


Tales of the Tiamat [trilogy]

Tiamat, Mother of Demon I (2002)
Gwyllion, Daughter of the Tiamat II (2002)
Revenge of the Tiamat III (2002)


Special Books (no category)

Every day’s Adventure (2002) Pot Luck
Islam, In Search of Satan’s Rib (2002) Opinion


The Addiction Books of D.L. Siluk:

A Path to Sobriety I (2002)
A Path to Relapse Prevention II (2003)
Aftercare: Chemical Dependency Recovery III (2004)


Autobiographical

A Romance in Augsburg I “2003)
Romancing San Francisco II (2003)
Where the Birds Don’t Sing III (2003)
Stay Down, Old Abram IV (2004)

Chasing the Sun [Travels of D.L Siluk] (2002)


Romance and/or Tragedy:

The Rape of Angelina of Glastonbury 1199 AD (2002) Novelette
Perhaps it’s Love (Minnesota to Seattle) 2004 Novel
Cold Kindness (Dieburg, Germany) 2005 Novelette
To Take, and Have Not (2009)




The Suspense short stories, Novels and Novelettes:

Death on Demand [Seven Suspenseful Short Stories] 2003 Vol: I
Dracula’s Ghost [And other Peculiar stories] 2003 Vol: II
The Jumping Serpents of Bosnia (suspenseful short stories) 2008 Vol: III

The Mumbler [psychological] 2003 (Novel)
After Eve [a prehistoric adventure] (2004) Novel
Mantic ore: Day of the Beast ((2002) (Novelette)) supernatural


The Poetry of D.L. Siluk

General Poetry

The Other Door (Poems- Volume I, 1981)
Willie the Humpback Whale (poetic tale)
(1982; 1983, 2008, four printings (forth in Spanish & English)
Sirens [Poems-Volume II, 2003]
The Macabre Poems [Poems-Volume III, 2004]

Understanding Poetry (an introduction to its meaning) 2010

Minnesota Poetry

Last Autumn and Winter [Minnesota poems, 2006]


Peruvian Poetry

Spell of the Andes [2005]
Peruvian Poems [2005]
Poetic Images out of Peru [And other poems, 2006]
The Magic of the Avelinos (Poems on the Mantaro Valley, book One; 2006)
The Road to Unishcoto (Poems on the Mantaro Valley, Book Two, 2007)
The Poetry of Stone Forest (Cerro de Pasco, 2007)
The Windmills (Poetry of Jan Parra del Riego) 2009


Trilogy of Natural Writings
(Novelettes. extracts and short stories)

Cornfield Laughter (A Short Novel, and ten short stories) 2009
Men with Torrent Women (Two Novelettes and Sixteen Short stories) 2009
To Take, and Not Have (A Novelette, Fifteen Short Stories and an Epic Poem) 2009

The Essential Siluk (novelettes, extracts and short stories) 2010
Old Josh, in Poor Black (Sketches of the Old South) 2010








Back of Book



Dr. Dennis L. Siluk, Ed.D., three time Poet Laureate, with Donald Hall, United States Poet Laureate; both briefly talking about their loses, and the emotion they went through, February, 2005, at the World Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The contents of this small book on poetry, and its essentials for understanding verse, and criticism people may wish to realize in reading poetry, or in determining his or her direction in creative writing of poetry, is here, and surely will impact the poet or reader once acquainted. The span covers Dr. Siluk’s entire writing career. What he has used himself in producing some fourteen books of poetry, and translating one of the great poets, Juan Parra del Riego, once a friend of Cesar Vallejo’s, from Spanish to English, and acclaimed by the Continental University of Peru, for its undertaking.
Mr. Siluk has met with many great poets, to include Robert Bly and Garrison Keillor.

“Dr. Siluk is a complete poet…. With Dr. Siluk’s appropriate translations from Spanish to English, he resurrects the feelings of the poets of Peru, for the peoples of Peru and those outside of Peru.”

Professor of Continental University
and Poet: Mr. Enrique Ortiz (6-9-2009)



This is the author’s 43rd book, and 13th in Poetry. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota and Lima, Peru, with his wife Rosa. He is presently working on several other books, to include a book on his unpublished selected poetry, in the makings for several years.