How to Start Reading Poetry

Listen, I know poetry seems like super big, scary and daunting section that’s always shoved in the very back of the library with deteriorating shelving and a couple dust bunnies floating by like tumbleweeds… but, honestly, that’s not what poetry actually is!

Poetry is about a “literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature,” or, at least, that’s what Google and Oxford Languages has to say about it. In my definition, though… poetry is, essentially, an art form of words!

Why You Should Read Poetry

Sure, there are probably a billion and a half research studies that have been conducted to conclude that reading poetry probably stimulates this one part of the brain or strengthens this other part of the brain or has a positive effect on the body’s aging or something… which, yeah, might be true, but, honestly, I think the best part of reading poetry is this:

You get a chance to understand someone else, or maybe even understand yourself better, just by looking at a couple of words on an otherwise blank page.

It’s as simple as that, really!

You see, reading poetry that someone else has penned gives you a chance to see into that poet’s world, whether that world is real or a bit made-up. It’s a lot like watching actors in a show or movie that are recreating a different world for you to enjoy… except, with poetry, you get to visualize the world on the page in whatever way you’d like.

Reading poetry also sometimes gives us a chance to figure ourselves out, especially on a “deep” level. For example, reading poems about someone else’s experience with a severe illness or disability can make us look at our own experiences with illness or disabilities and reevaluate what we might have thought before. Perhaps a poem of this type can make us feel empathy for someone we know that battles with a sever illness, or it can make us feel more comfortable or even proud to have a disability ourselves if we deal with one.

Of course, some poems are just kind of there “for fun,” too, and it’s always okay to read poetry and not feel like we either connect with someone else’s world or come to understand ourselves better. Trust me, I’ve taken a couple poetry-related college courses in my day, and I’ve had multiple professors tell me that, contrary to some popular beliefs, not all poems are meant to make us think or feel something.

The Best Poetry Books for Poetry “Beginners”

If you’re super new to reading poetry, let me tell you this: all you need to start reading poems is, well, poems–nothing else!

Yeah, you don’t need some big, fancy notebook or reading guide or whatever else a lot of websites will try to sell you. Like I said, reading poetry is meant to be for the sake of a good experience, and there isn’t always going to be some great pearl of wisdom that you’re absolutely going to need to write down right after reading any one poem. Maybe there will be one every once in a while… but, you know, you can always just write down any notes you have after reading in your phone or something.

So, let me just share my personal list of must-reads for those brand new to poetry!

Poems by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou has to be first on my list because… honestly, I think her poems are actually pretty easy to read, and they always sound beautifully musical. To get a taste of just a few of her most popular pieces, I’d recommend reading her collected Poems book.

Tenderly, joyously, sometimes in sadness, sometimes in pain, Maya Angelou writes from the heart and celebrates life as only she has discovered it. In this moving volume of poetry, we hear the multi-faceted voice of one of the most powerful and vibrant writers of our time.