I was AWOL yesterday because Attack of the Difficult Poems by Charles Berstein arrived from the library and I had to start reading right away. So far I am loving this book! Admittedly I haven’t read all that many essays yet and somewhere in the middle things could go horribly awry, but so far so good!
I want to tell you about the first essay, “The Difficult Poem.” It is a tongue-in-cheek essay to help readers identify a difficult poem, provide a bit of therapy, and offer advice on how to approach reading a difficult poem.
Berstein provides a handy checklist for identifying a difficult poem:
- Do you find the poem hard to appreciate?
- Do you find the poem’s vocabulary and syntax hard to understand?
- Are you often struggling with the poem?
- Does the poem make you feel inadequate or stupid as a reader?
- Is your imagination being affected by the poem?
If you answer yes to any of the questions, chances are you are reading a difficult poem. But in case you aren’t completely sure other things to look out for include symptoms of “elevated linguistic intensity; textual irregularities; initial withdrawal (poem not immediately available); poor adaptability (poem not suitable for use in love letters, memorial commemoration, etc.); sensory overload; or negative mood.”
Heh.
When encountering a difficult poem, Berstein says, the thing to do is not ask “why me?” however much that might be your first instinct. This is a common problem and you are not alone. Nor should you wonder about whether you are somehow inadequate. Instead, recognize that the difficulty of the poem has nothing to do with you, you are not to blame, difficult poetry is not your fault.
What we need to know is that difficult poems are normal. There is nothing wrong with a difficult poem, it is not abnormal. Remember that difficult and abnormal are two very different things. Difficult poems are difficult because that’s just how they are. And yes, they are hard to read but don’t let them intimidate you. Part of the objective of a difficult poem is to be provoking and sometimes this is how they get your attention and when you give a poem your full attention then sometimes really marvelous things happen.
When we stop blaming ourselves and the poem, we can then get to work on our relationship. Because Bernstein thinks that poetry, especially difficult poetry, is all about relationship. You and the poem need to work through the issues together. Don’t try to smooth over difficulties. In order to build a strong and lasting relationship, you must face them head on. Also, if you are struggling in your relationship to a difficult poem and look with envy on someone else who reads it and seems to understand it perfectly and easily, know that at one point that person struggled too.
So take heart! Relax! Have fun! Approach a difficult poem with friendship and a willingness to make it work even if it means you begin with a simple introduction and a handshake. Who knows? It might be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
I just love the comment about “poor adaptability (poem not suitable for use in love letters, memorial commemoration, etc.)”. What does that say about the way we treat poetry these days? (OK, I’m a snob and I admit it!)
Milton or Dante will always bash the heads in of their new readers because you just need so much baggage to appreciate them but i’m sure Bernstein is right that fear/panic is not the right way to approach any poem. certain amount of difficulty is all part of the challenge of reading a difficult poem.
Ian, oh yes, a very good point! Difficult poems are difficult in different ways, aren’t they? Some need lots of background information in order to understand them, others need a dictionary, and so on. Bernstein hints in the essay that easy poems aren’t always as easy as they appear and if they are then they are very likely glossing over things that should not be glossed over. Difficult poems aren’t difficult by accident and are usually struggling to express something as much as the reader is struggling to understand. I don’t believe this is always true, the essay lacked nuance but nuance was not the point of it.
Alex, I know! That made me laugh out loud and I even had to read it to my husband who also found it amusing. It does say a lot about how we treat poetry these days, as though it is only good and worthwhile if it can be used in some way. If you are a snob then I am too!
Yes, the dreaded difficult poems are what scare me off….does he give some helpful hints and guidance to try and understand those hard poems? And I love it when a new book grabs you like that so you forget everything else!
Danielle, no, no helpful hints in how to understand hard poems, at least not in this essay. maybe he will say something one that topic in a later essay. It is so much fun to be grabbed by a new book!
Must a “difficult poem” only mean difficult on a linguistic or metaphorical or vocabulary level? I wonder. I just came across The Definition of Love by Andrew Marvell. I found it difficult. Oh, I understood it alright. But the emotion was difficult. Not to understand, but to accept. It was beautiful…but oh so painful. Does that make it difficult? Just a thought.
Grad, no, I don’t think difficult has to refer only to language and structure. Difficult for Berstein is difficulty in reading and understanding and doesn’t include the kind of difficulty you refer to. I think that sort of difficulty is on a whole higher level and requires a completely different kind of discussion. I don’t recall ever having read that Marvell poem so now I am going to go look it up because you have made me curious!
I love the sound of this book. Off to see if my library has a copy…
I’m back. It doesn’t. Oh well. I’ll put it on my wish list, and maybe someone will get it for me for Christmas. I’m an extremely reluctant reader of poetry, but I’ve always been amazed how I seem to get such fun and meaning out some of the poetry others find extremely difficult (e.g. The Faerie Queen) and then everyone will be raving about something I think I’m going to jump right in and love (e.g. Walt Whitman), and I find myself going “Huh?!”
Emily, sorry your library doesn’t have it. Maybe you could do an interlibrary loan? Waiting for Santa is also good though
Poetry like fiction produces different experiences and responses for everybody so I am not surprised by your experience. I love Whitman though so don’t give up on him unless of course you really don’t get along. I’ll still like you anyway 
I am always really curious about the way people react to something they perceive as ‘difficult’. That sounds as if I count myself out here, though I don’t – lord knows I’ve read enough difficult stuff and some of it I wanted to throw out of the window and some of it mesmerised me. But I do wonder why it makes readers so angry or so self-attacking (and the two are sides of the same coin). There’s something so frustrating about a piece of writing that won’t reveal itself to you: so is it about wasted time? About wasted effort? I don’t know, I’m just speculating. But I do find the question really interesting.
Litlove, that is an interesting question. I suspect some of it has to do with confidence and how one faces up to challenges generally as well as how one handles failure. And no doubt a whole bunch of other things. No doubt a psychological study is in order
I wonder if my students would like this essay. They certainly have a lot of thoughts about difficult poems!
Rebecca, I bet they would like it! If you use it be sure to let me know what they think of it, I’d be really curious
Hmmm. Definitely intrigued. The kaleidoscopic approach always nudges a book towards the upper reaches of the TBR…
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