"Poetry is traditionally taught - at least it was taught to me - as a kind of thing you have to endure in English class; there's no sense of it applying to your life. But poetry, good poetry, is the stuff of life. Poetry asks us to slow down and to think about what we're reading, but also to experience it."
"Poetry also rewards rereading. There are poems I've read a million times that one day mean something totally different. Having that sort of lifetime experience with a poem is really precious. Your tastes change some, but it's also that the poem never changes, but you do. Say, if you lose a loved one, poems that might talk about grief might not mean as much to you till after."
Poetry functions as an essential element of life that invites readers to slow down, think, and feel. Poetry resembles childhood reading in its capacity to be ingested whole rather than in fragments. Poems gain new meanings over time because readers change while the poem remains the same, making rereading a valuable, lifelong practice. Poetry can provide companionship and consolation, especially in experiences of grief, as readers report. There is no single correct method of reading poetry; tasting, experiencing, and reading aloud amplify both the physical and emotional effects of poems.
Read at Harvard Gazette
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