11ENG-Unfamiliar Texts, Poetry

Unfamiliar Texts, Poetry


In English, we are studying unfamiliar text and how to unwrap and delve into an unfamiliar poem. Below is my interpretation of the following three poems, and what I take away from them in how to unlock a poem. In the end, I made a collage showing the meaning of poem number 1 in a visual form of art.

Poem 1:
How to Eat a Poem
by Eve Merriam (1916–1992)
Don’t be polite.
Bite in,
Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that
may run down your chin.
It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.
You do not need a knife or fork or spoon
or plate or napkin or tablecloth.
For there is no core
or stem
or rind
or pit
or seed
or skin
to throw away.

What does this poem suggest about the way we should approach poetry?
Answer: This poem tells us that we should be looking at all of the external parts to a poem (language features) and not at the core, for there is no core. In the text, it says that there is nothing to "throw away", meaning that everything is important in a poem.


Poem 2:
Eating Poetry
by Mark Strand (1934– )
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.
The librarian does not believe what she sees.
Her eyes are sad
and she walks with her hands in her dress.
The poems are gone.
The light is dim.
The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.
Their eyeballs roll,
their blond legs burn like brush.
The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.
She does not understand.
When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
she screams.
I am a new man.
I snarl at her and bark.
I romp with joy in the bookish dark

What does this poem suggest about the way we should approach poetry?
Answer: This poem tells us that poems are full of metaphors and similes-things that don't literally mean what they say. In the text, the narrator is the dog, where he says "When I get in my knees and lick her hand".

Poem 3:
Unfolding Bud
by Naoshi Koriyama (1926– )
One is amazed
By a water-lily bud
Unfolding
With each passing day,
Taking on a richer colour
And new dimensions.
One is not amazed,
At first glance,
By a poem,
Which is tight-closed
As a tiny bud.
Yet one is surprised
To see the poem
Gradually unfolding,
Revealing its rich inner self
As one reads it
Again
And over again.

What does this poem suggest about the way we should approach poetry?
This poem shows us that "at a first glance" a poem is not amazing to the reader. However, the poem eventually begins to "gradually unfold", revealing its inner self. This shows that it takes time and effort to fully understand the concepts and meaning behind a poem.

I will be making a visual collage about the first poem. This can be seen below: