SOMETHING MORE THAN SONG LYRICS

It isn't what she's got to say but how she thinks and where she's been.

To me, the words are nice, the way they sound.

I like to hear them best that way, it doesn't much matter what they mean.

She says them mostly just to calm me down.

-James Taylor

Lately some friends and I have been discussing the value of reading poetry. Yes poetry! I know this coming from the guys who likes to get dirty and eat meat! Seriously though, poetry is a way of using words that express ideas in interesting ways. If there is a difference between the educated of yesterday and the educated of today, it is that man today does not know how to read poetry. This is a shame! For the Christian this is a real handicap considering so much of Scripture is written in poetry. How are we to understand some of the prophets when we are much too literal of thinkers?
I know that sometimes poetry is hard. It sometimes takes more than one reading. The best tip I can give you is that poetry is to be read aloud. Follow punctuation, pause when appropriate, find the rhythm, and just read aloud. The words were chosen not only for their meaning but also for how they sound.

So here is some Wordsworth. Those who have seen A River Runs Through It will recognize the latter part as the father and son quoting dual, one of my favorite parts.


And O ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves!
Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;
I only have relinquish'd one delight
To live beneath your more habitual sway.
I love the brooks which down their channels fret,
Even more than when I tripp'd lightly as they;
The innocent brightness of a new-born Day
Is lovely yet;
The clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.