An Amateur Reader's Guide to Verse

We all had enough of "serious" poetry at school. From understanding the obtuse "Ozymandias" to being bored by the oft-repeated "The Solitary Reaper", we students underwent a lot of hardships. "Why," you ask, "am I to be subjected to it again in adulthood?" A difficult question. Let me offer my take on the subject.

The most important thing about poetry is that not all of it has to do with words. An important part of poetry is having a special way of looking at life, and all of us have it. If you ever saw a glorious sunset and thought about how incredible it is that the sun will rise again. If you once caught a secret glance exchanged between two people and wondered what it meant. If you ever thought about what the colour of water would be if everything in the world had to have a colour, if you saw shapes in clouds... If you thought anything close to all this, you're almost a poet. And you didn't know it.

The other important thing is that you listen to poetry almost everyday. It's there in all the ad jingles, the slogans, the nursery rhymes, the cards and the songs. "Of course it is," you say, "but those things are fun stuff, they entertain me. Proper poetry - well it just whizzes over my head." Well, if you just looked up sometimes you'd discover all the fun you've been missing. Of course, you need to have the right attitude and all that jazz.

There are many ways of reading poetry, each differing in depth and enjoyment. For the uninitiated, a short primer on discovering poetry:

Level 1. Singing poetry: (Ok, ok, I can hear the smirks!) Apart from the obvious rhymes that we all know, you can actually sing most kinds of poetry to yourself. It is one of the most enjoyable ways of remembering poems you love. It is the first step to a love affair with verse.

Level 2. Aesthetic Reading: This is an almost superficial level of reading where you take pleasure in how the words are intertwined. You enjoy how the rhythm, the sounds and the words come together without thinking too much about the meaning. Many people read this way.

Level 3. Reading between the lines: Once you appreciate the surface meaning, you can try to wonder about what the poet really meant. Like when he said "roses are red/ violets are blue". Was he talking about just colour, or ascribing feelings to the flowers? - As you can see, the trouble with this kind of reading is that it complicates simple things and most often interprets things the poet never intended. Most times it is interesting and enlightening, but sometimes it takes away from the simple joy of a rhyme.

Level 4. Imagining poetry: This is the wondrous plane where all poetry-lovers live. At this level, almost every line you read becomes a reminder of some moment in your life. And conversely, at every moment in your life, you'll remember, and even create, snippets of poetry. To get here is not too tough, really. You don't need a huge vocabulary or a degree in English. All you need is a great love for poems and the capacity to stretch your imagination beyond limits. You'll soon realise that poetry is an important guide to another person's thoughts and feelings. It has the ability to open your mind to places you didn't even know existed.

So go on, open your old English textbook and read a poem. Forget about what your teachers said. Read for the sake of reading. Sing the poem in a new tune, savour the words on your tongue, peer between the lines for hidden treasure and most importantly, imagine.