Take some time and space to be with a poem. To bring it to life inside you. The voice of the poet then becomes clear, develops and evolves, and indeed becomes alive within the reader. The reader is the epitome of the active listener - of active receptivity and open hearted-ness. The meaning imbued by the poet in the words, and in the words not used, is transformed within the reader into new meaning - emobodied beautifully. The active presences and the active absences combine in new ways.
The tensions are created between the words and the context within the reader/recipient, which is the unique personal history of the reader. A resonance develops, new meanings arise. And the poet and the reader spiral up to new heights of understanding together entwined in body, mind and spirit, which has nothing to do with time and space.
One aspect of exploring a poem which has been originally brought into being by someone else is to learn the poem by heart and to experiment through speaking the poem. Just like a singer bringing their own authenticity to a song that has been performed many times by other singers, the interplay between words and voice allows the poem to become embodied in the new speaker, helping them to deepen their experience with the new resonances and meanings you describe.
ReplyDeleteStuart
Great point Stuart.. Definitely something that we don't do enough and encourage these days in education. It used to be a mainstay of education - lerarning poems by heart, but not just recitation as you say, feeling and truly embodying the poem. Many thanks! m
ReplyDeleteA nice link here http://www.theguardian.com/books/shortcuts/2013/jan/09/difficult-learn-poem-by-heart
ReplyDeleteand here: http://poetry.about.com/cs/textarchives/ht/howmemorizepoem.htm
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