How a Poem Moves: A Field Guide for Readers of Poetry

by Adam Sol

A collection of playfully elucidating essays to help reluctant poetry readers become well-versed in verse Developed from Adam Sol’s popular blog, How a Poem Moves is a collection of 35 short essays that walks readers through an array of contemporary poems. Sol is a dynamic teacher, and in these essays, he has captured the humor and engaging intelligence for which he is known in the classroom. With a breezy style, Sol delivers essays that are perfect for a quick read or to be grouped together as a curriculum. Though How a Poem Moves is not a textbook, it demonstrates poetry’s range and pleasures through encounters with individual poems that span traditions, techniques, and ambitions. This illuminating book is for readers who are afraid they “don’t get” poetry but who believe that, with a welcoming guide, they might conquer their fear and cultivate a new appreciation.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Essays, Writing, Audiobook, Canada, Criticism

216 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2019

Reviews

[Tom C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been browsing books like this, seeking a textbook to use in an intermediate undergraduate class. A couple of books were too dull. Another was too snarky. Another wasn't advanced enough. This one is just right. Sol is clearly enthusiastic about the subject matter in a way that I think will rub off on students. His commentaries don't talk over anyone's heads, but they don't oversimplify poems, either. His selections are mostly right up my alley, with a mix of high seriousness and playfulness, referencing both high culture and pop culture in a way that will engage and challenge students. The book introduced me to some poets whose work I didn't know and gave me some good ideas for additions to my reading list.

[Kristin Lenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the poetry class and professor I wish I'd had in college!

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This intrigued me. I’m not afraid of poetry, but it isn’t for me. Not really. Not modern poetry and not American or even English language one. I love Shakespeare. I can appreciate Dickinson. But that can’t be it, there’s so much more. And in order to justify thinking of myself as a not merely voracious, but also a diverse reader, I decided to check out if this is something worth including into my repertoire. This book is based on a series of blogs by a poetry loving teacher and reading it is very much like taking an exceptionally lively entertaining class on a subject you didn’t think would be of interest. Adam Sol’s taste leans to the precisely sort of modern abstractly (no beloved rhyming iambic pentameter to be found) structured poems I don’t care for, but he takes them apart so cleverly, analyzing the language, the rhythms, the themes, the word choices and the meanings…that it’s a delight to behold all the same. The man is like a poem detective. And reading this you get to play along, follow the clues, decipher the coded messages and so on. Which is a lot of fun. I may not appreciate poetry enough, but linguistics I find fascinating, so for me this was more of a linguistic exercise. And I would say Adam Sol succeeded in his mission by indeed helping a reluctant poetry reader become well versed in verse. Although it didn’t make me want to read poetry (in fact the first poem I liked in this collection wasn’t until 40% in), it made me fairly confident that if I did, I’d be able to figure out what it’s about. So now I can consider myself edified and my choice to not read much poetry an informed one. I mean, essentially poetry is just another form of telling a story, a different medium, and not the one I prefer on daily basis, but one to appreciate on a special occasion. This book, though, was lovely. A terrific example of how an author’s enthusiasm for and knowledge of a subject combined with erudite enjoyable presentation can surpass your expectations and engage your attention more so than the subject itself might. For a work of nonfiction that’s quite an accomplishment, it even read quickly, maybe 180 minutes. Long for a lesson maybe, but worth the time. Recommended for fans of literary dissections. Thanks Netgalley.

[CM · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 35 chapters* ,each with a poem and a short essay analyzing how the poem achieves an effect, are probably the best thing I have ever read about poems. The author's sharing is erudite, passionate but also chatty. It is not a theory-laden approach. Instead, we have close reading, revealing possible interpretations by careful consideration and highlighting the technical merits of each poet. More importantly, it is really not that hard .The author's key argument here is "we will all appreciate poems much more if we pay more attention to them" . And I believe he has convinced me in most of his chapters here.



* I had no idea who these contemporary American were before opening this book but this fact only made me appreciated the author even more.
**Anyone interested may find some of these essays online on the Author's "How a poem moves" blog.

[James Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ralph Waldo Emerson thought "The real poem is not the words on the page, it is the event or feeling or idea behind the words." Adam Sol in his collection of 35 contemporary poems does present a variety of poetic styles and forms, but I'm not sure he gets Emerson's spirit of poetry across. This surprises me because I'm familiar with Sol's good work with Tracy Smith and Alice Oswald as a Griffin Poetry Prize judge. Here, though, he walks through the landscape of these poems pointing out technical features (he does call the book a field guide) but was unable to help me connect emotionally to more than a couple of them. I thought most of them flat. They didn't resonate with me, and his not making me like them makes me think his analyses are kinda empty. About halfway through the book I stopped reading Sol's little essays and just read the poems.

This is a good idea. I'm attracted to the format of anthologizing poems and following each with a brief commentary, but in my opinion it's been much better executed by Stephen Burt in his The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them.

[Happyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thirty-five poems, thirty-five quick opportunities for the author to tour you around and say "did you see what they did there? Isn't that amazing/fun/surprising/insightful?" Like the best poetry discussions. No drudgery, only moments of "completely missed that/thanks for pointing that out," "so moving/thought provoking/hilarious/shocking, etc." Great diversity of poets and styles leaving you wanting more from these very modern voices.

[Deedi Brown (DeediReads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

How a Poem Moves is a friendly, accessible, super-digestible read perfect for anyone who wants practice reading poetry, with a smart, funny professor there to point out things you might have missed.

For you if: You are learning to read poetry more closely or intentionally.

FULL REVIEW:

How a Poem Moves was the third book I picked up in my quest to learn how to read poetry on a deeper level. First was How to Read Poetry Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, and second was Don’t Read Poetry by Stephanie Burt, both of which were excellent and helpful. This one was absolutely perfect to read next.

How a Poem Moves is basically like a poetry-reading practice book, or like taking a fun class with a smart, funny professor. At only about 200 pages, it contains more than 30 short chapters. Each one presents a single poem at the beginning, and then Adam Sol takes a couple of pages to help point out its brilliance and nuance. It’s sort of like No Fear Shakespeare for poetry, lol.

I really loved how digestible this book was. I actually just picked at it over the course of two months, reading a poem/chapter or two when my brain felt especially curious. Adam Sol is clearly an excellent teacher, and I’m jealous of all the students to get to take classes with him in real life!

If you’re looking for just a little bit of guidance as you practice reading poetry, this book will be perfect for you.

[TR Minamoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading How a Poem Moves is like taking a series of day trips with Adam Sol as a knowledgeable, engaging, and amiable guide. While the poems may be destinations you have never thought to visit (and perhaps might choose to not visit again), Sol’s commentary enlivens the excursion and brings into focus interesting perspectives that make you delighted you’ve made the trip. Sol does not force you to visit every museum and cathedral on the tour; he does, however, always show you something new or oft overlooked or so familiar that it makes you wonder why you did not recognize it yourself. Occasionally he takes you on side-trips to learn about classical poetry forms like sonnets and ghazals or the musicality of alliteration and iambic pentameter. All of this in concise, entertaining, frequently humourous, highly readable style. Sol set out to be a self-professed “field guide” to help you, the reader, be less intimidated by poetry, a goal he more than achieves – he infects you with his passion for poetry. Read How a Poem Moves and travel whatever road Sol diverges down: for your understanding and love of poetry, you will find that it has made all the difference.

[Cipriyani · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to get into poetry and learn how to love it/analyze it/write it yourself, I think the first half of this book is the perfect thing for you.

The first half of this book is full of the most interesting and enlightening little essays on poetry I've ever read, and it even got me to love and see the beauty in poems that I'd initially deemed hopelessly boring, so I've got nothing but high praise for the first half of this book

[Debbie Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

In one word - "Delightful"!

In three words - "Educational and entertaining"!

To use a simile - "Like eating potato chips. Once I sampled one essay I was addicted and yearned to devour them all in one sitting."

"Loved the conversational style. Your poetic words moved me." - That's nine more words.

Well-done! (And I'm not referring to a spoiled hunk of beef.)

[Laurie Mackie]

Author, teacher and 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize juror, Adam Sol has a passion for poetry. Fear, he says, the fear of “not getting it,” avoiding the genre “makes me crazy.” With thirty-five poems and accompanying short essays, How a Poem Moves sets out to change that perception. This is not a textbook—he avoids the definition of what poetry is, its meaning, the terms and techniques involved in its production.

From the experimental to the tradition, Sol drills down, focuses on the question of What does this poem do? Why did Deborah Digges opt for the line spacing chosen in “Stealing Lilacs from the Cemetery? Why is a list a poem? Or a recipe? Why does Don Paterson’s sonnet “Mercies”, a traditional form of poetry dating from the 14th century, continue to touch us today?

Though designed for those who fear a lack of understanding, of not “getting it,” How a Poem Moves is equally relevant for emerging poets. Humourous, well-written and plain-spoken, even the title is a poetic play on words.

[Domenica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book achieves all it sets out to do. The poems and poets featured are diverse, Sol's essays are the perfect bite-sized length, and he approaches each one with nuance, intelligence, openness, and joy. There’s a willingness to take each poem on its own terms, which makes Sol an excellent guide, and his enthusiasm translates seamlessly to the reader. There’s a lot of nitty gritty stuff to take away (discussions on form, metre, stresses, syllables, etc.) but the main element at play is an engagement in exploration and pleasure. In this way I feel like it’s suitable for all levels of readers and writers of poetry. I can see how “How a Poem Moves” would make a great teaching resource for the classroom as each essay, since brief, is a great starting point but leaves lots more to explore and develop.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous field guide that I recommend to my creative-writing students and friends who might be afraid of poetry because they don't understand it. Sol brings a practitioner's understanding and a teacher's patience to this collection of essays about poems he read during his tenure as Griffin Prize juror. Each essay is about 1000 words and elucidating not only on the current poem but about poetic aims in general. It belongs in every library.

[Mya Carrizosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun read! The author wrote a short essay about 35 different poems, highlighting a different way "each poem moves". It was lovely to read such a wide sample of poetry and have someone shed light on some of the aspects of poetry that I don't always catch because I have never studied poetry. This is something I'll probably re-read in the future because I feel like I'd gain something different each read.

[Shouty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE READING PEOPLE’S EXPLANATIONS FOR OR REACTIONS TO ART, AND THIS REALLY DID HELP ME FEEL I COULD GET INTO POETRY MORE - SOME STANDOUTS FOR ME: “YELLOWJACKETS,” “LIFE WITH TIGERS,” “QUEER FACTS ABOUT VEGETABLES,” “TRIALS,” AND “ON H.C. ANDERSON…”

[Bri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been working my way through this book for a couple of months in fits & starts - haven’t tried to interpret a poem since grade 12, and loved how approachable and immersive this was.

[Andrea Blythe · Rating 5 out of 5]

In How a Poem Moves, Adam Sol strives to eliminate the phrase, I just “don’t get poetry” from modern conversations, calling it an “an insult to your abilities as a reader, and to poetry itself.” In these efforts, he presents a series of essays, each one focused on a single poem, exploring how it uses language, line, and linguistic play to explore a specific emotion, moment, or experience. I love how accessible his essays are, offering up insights with clear, clean language that opens up an entry way into the text of each poem. I especially appreciate how he will often note his own feelings of uncertainty, places where he himself is not sure what the poet means in that instance, and acknowledging that its okay to not understand every word, every line — that it’s okay for a poem to exist in obscurity.

If you’ve ever wanted to read more poetry, but were worried you wouldn’t “get it,” then Sol’s book is a great entry point to exploring the medium. Even as someone who has read poetry intently for decades now, I found myself reading the poems, then his analysis, then rereading the poem with a new perspective. This book has stoked the flames of my love for poetry.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

I really enjoyed this book, which is meant to be a field guide to introduce readers to the genre of poetry. I'm not exactly the target audience since I already read and (I like to think) understand poetry well enough on my own, but it was still a fun concept. Sol's enthusiasm for poetry shines through in every essay, despite the varied subject matter. I appreciated that he highlighted a diversity of poets and perspectives, and almost all of these poets were new to me (especially the Canadian ones). I added lots of poets to my Goodreads TBR shelf this week! I particularly enjoyed the essays on the two poems in translation, because I always find the process of translation and how it affects the meaning of the poem to be quite fascinating. If you love poetry like Sol and myself and want to evangelize poetry to someone who's wary of it, this would make an excellent gift, because he definitely makes poetry feel approachable and fun.

[Rosemin Nathoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sol's straightforward, personal, clever reflections awaken and re-awaken an original delight in poetry. This was a real joy to read.

[Barbara McVeigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect companion for Poetry Month.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed reading for many years then felt it would be good to extend my knowledge of a few different varieties of literature. In the winter I took a Canadian literature course and read several Canadian books. Next, I decided to read about Poetry. The title caught my attention "for readers afraid of poetry". Like so many I felt I "just don't get poetry". Sol guided me through a variety of 35 poems and suggested meaning for most of them. I didn't agree with all his meanings but he said that that was ok. He encouraged us to find "delight" and pleasure from reading poetry. I will continue more reading of poetry. I have joined the HAL (Hamilton Arts and Letters) and will read more of the poems in their writings. Sol says "It's my personal mission to ban the phrase "don't get poetry" from modern usage. It is an insult to your abilities as a reader, and to poetry itself". So I will no longer say that. I will read poetry. I will not get hung up on understanding all the allusions that the poets present. Ok Sol, my goal is to find pleasure in poetry. Thank you.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wonderful, accessible book breaks down the what, why and how of poetry - forms, language, meanings, translation, ideas, etc. - using example poems and easy to read essays from Sol, a poet and professor. THESE THINGS are what I'm trying to explain in my reviews of many recent books by "Instagram Poets" and their ilk - why simply typing sentence fragments is NOT poetry, why it requires MORE. I want to send a copy of "How a Poem Moves" to all of them, to their publishers, and to their fans. Poetry is such an amazing art form, it deserves appreciation, and this book is a great introduction into why and how.

[Beth Tabler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review.

I have to admit that I was afraid of poetry, or maybe more aptly put I didn't understand poetry. What was the big deal? I now believe I a starting to understand. There is so much more than I understood. I want to learn, to grow, and understand now. All of these essays, each one on a different poem, are based on Adam Sol's blog. If poetry scares you or fascinates you, this is a worthy read. I know I am going to go out and try and write bad poetry now.

[Andy T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really helpful! Adam teaches how to read (understand, enjoy, feel) poetry by simply doing it himself as a means of instructing. He reads and explains how particular poems move (his word for what poetry does in a variety of life categories) and we, the readers, get to watch and learn as he does it. Very enjoyable book.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really a lot of fun--the essays were fun to read, not overanalytical, and the new poets I was introduced to (most of them--I'd only ever read Joy Harjo before) were delightful. I am not at my most comfortable in contemporary poetry, so this was a great exploration for me and I enjoyed it very much.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Adam Sol from Victoria College at the University of Toronto, has put together a very helpful book based on the blog posts he began in 2016. It includes thirty-five, one-thousand-word essays, each about a single poem that he uses to help those who may feel intimidated by poetry, believing they “may not get it”. Based on his belief that people learn best by watching others, he begins each piece with information about the author and/or the context of a modern contemporary poem and then leads the reader through an exploration of its content. He engages readers in a relaxed, often humorous, conversational style, encouraging them to think through the process he models as he goes through it. He poses questions about structure, content and style and suggests answers, while encouraging readers to consider others they think of themselves. In this way, he reinforces his role as a gentle but intelligent guide, leading readers in a world they may be comfortable or ready to explore.

He points out how poems, unlike novels or prose pieces, present a few words in a small space, never burdened with the obligation to reveal its full story. Instead it invites readers to pour over and think about the words, imagining a series of events or connections that might follow. Sol sympathizes with the natural effort readers have of trying to solve what he calls the “narrative mystery”, trying to figure out what is going on in the poem or the story it is trying to tell. Some may feel stymied by references to works of art with which they are unfamiliar, but Sol encourages us not to get lost in those references, and to focus on the whole. It may mean you miss a detail that would add to your appreciation of a poem, but you can still enjoy its larger message.

What I most enjoyed was Sol’s process, the questions he poses about each poem while exploring its content. They are not the arcane or esoteric queries of an academic, but questions a common reader would pose. He emphasizes that poetry is not made for speed reading, but rather for a slow contemplative effort to think about the choice of words and consider what the writer is trying to say. He shows how to pay attention to rhythm and rhyme; how line breaks are used to help with comprehension and how punctuation and the spacing of words on a page adds to a slower reading experience. The example he uses to illustrate his last point, his reference to Digges" poem “Stealing Lilacs in the Cemetery” is excellent, as he points out how the meandering indented form in that poem seems to mirror the leisurely walk the speaker takes with her son. His examples reinforce the fact these are deliberate decisions the poet has made.

Sol invites readers into the world he so obviously enjoys, careful never to take the stance of the expert he is, and always ready to admit when he may not get something right or has missed a meaning entirely. He suggests a possible meaning, then also says it may mean something else, and invites his readers to think about other options. He probes gently asking, “is there perhaps….” or “could it be that ….”, clearly identifying what puzzles him, what he is unsure of and ready to admit what he does not know. What he makes clear is that there can be many interpretations for any one poem and one is not more correct than any other. We all have different perspectives and respond differently to different things, so we may have a different interpretation of the meaning of a line or even an entire poem.

Sol covers a wide range of poetic genres but keeps his essays short, like his blog posts. That enhances the readability of his work which is best done a few essays at a time, pondered and thought about, rather than motoring through the entire book in one or two sittings. By following the process he models, one can enjoy poetry and not be so intimidated by the possibility of not understanding some or all of it. You get what you can, which does not mean you do not enjoy it.

Faced with a collection like this I have a few favorites. Interestingly I found some poems not as likeable as others, but enjoyed his exploration of them. Others I enjoyed both the poem and his thoughts about it. Among the ones I most connected with are: Shannon Maguires, “The most Visible ants are ….” A nine line poem which introduces the metaphor of worker ants as a corollary for “non-reproductive females” ; Bren Simmers’s “Night of Nesting Dolls” which explores how we connect with our landscape; Don Paterson’s “Mercies” which immerses us in a heart breaking story about a beloved pet; Soraya Peerbaye’s “Trials ” a poem from the larger work “Tell: poems for a schoolgirl” about the murder of fourteen tear old Reena Virk in 1997; and Norman Dubie’s “Lines for Little Mila” about the fascination of childhood, the fleeting nature of life’s pleasures and our profound ignorance of death.

He concludes his field guide with the hope he has given readers a way to explore the world of poetry, to make connections and listen, but most of all he hopes to share his enthusiasm for poetry itself. If a poem seems difficult, it is often because it has complicated ideas to explore, but Sol is hopeful that the process he has demonstrated here will help readers find pleasure even in poems that might initially seem dark, complex or mysterious.

I found it a great little book.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a joy to discover.

[Megan Willome · Rating 4 out of 5]

How a Poem Moves: A Field Guide for Readers of Poetry Adam Sol

This — this is the kind of poetry book I love. Sol gently walks us through thirty-five contemporary poems. His emphasis is (blessedly) on how the poems work, not on what they mean. The book is, as the title suggests, a field guide, a hey-look-at-that-one!

Sol's goal is to show readers "what poetry can do," and he encouragers us to skip around, read the essays that go with the poems we like and skip those we don't care for. There were several poems that didn't strike me on the first read, but then the essay opened them up and I read them again (and again). The book also encouraged me to write poems using techniques these poets did — often simple things like a poem based on taking a walk, a poem that is a recipe, a poem about a pet.

I read a lot of poetry, but many of these were new to me. In some cases I knew the poet but not the particular poem. My to-read poetry list just got a lot longer, so I am feeling very happy.

Here's a poem I wrote after reading Sol's chapter titled "How A Poem Pushes Us Away and Beckons Us Closer," an exploration of Marilyn Dumont's "How to Make Pemmican."

How to Lose Your Voice

Have children.
Take them to piano lessons, voice lessons, guitar lessons, all things band.
Sing in the car with friends until your ex says, Who sings this song? Let’s keep it that way.
Turn to podcasts.
Quit choir when your career requires weeknights, weekends.
Take up cycling, golf, underwater bridge-building.
Make space for caregiving and grief.
Try out for the summer musical. Don’t make it.
Listen when the one you love most says, Baby, don’t sing.
Practice perfection.
Forget how to find notes with your left ring finger.
Stay silent.
Stay safe.

– Megan Willome

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 5 out of 5]

How a Poem Moves: A Field Guide for Readers Afraid of Poetry by Adam Sol is a collection of essays on poems. Sol is the author of three previous books of poetry, including Jeremiah, Ohio, a novel in poems that was shortlisted for Ontario's Trillium Award for Poetry; and Crowd of Sounds, which won the award in 2004. He has published fiction, scholarly essays, and reviews.

Although there are some, or many, people who are afraid of poetry it is an important part of literature. They fear it is too complicated, too unmanly, or even recall hidden fears of English teachers. This fear can be conquered in one of two ways. First, the world can embrace Instagram sensation "poets" who write platitudes and poems that sound like they were pulled out of a middle of a song -- short, generic, trite, and cliche. Second, we embrace poetry, take constructive lessons, use patience, and explore the poem.

Sol is part of the second solution; the one I prefer. Rather than memorizing a sonnet or research scholarly criticism on a poem, Sol presents the poem, breaks it down, and explains the verse. He guides the reader into the secrets the poem holds. Sol explains the style and how, like the title states, the poem moves. Some of the poets are people he was taught by or made an impression him. Others are presented to show how a poem articulates feelings, invites us to praise (odes), changes while we read it, or even mourns. The poems offer a path and what we take from them forms the journey. Easy reading and easy to understand explanations allow the reader to gain confidence in what they read and hopefully read further poetry on their own.

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Engaging Walkabout

On first look I wasn't terribly impressed by either the poems or the poets Adam Sol selected for analysis here. On reflection, though, I like his approach. First off, I don't really need another discussion of the oldies but goodies. Here we get poets we may not know and poems with which we may not be familiar. This allows for a fresh and original first look. And 35 poems allows for a wide ranging experience.

So what do we think of Sol's approach? Well, I thought he was a congenial and non-dogmatic commentator. Some of his reactions would not have been mine, and some of his enthusiasms were not mine, but overall he is accessible and perceptive, (although sometimes, perhaps, a bit too breezy for me). Many of his observations and fine points of analysis inspired me to think differently about the selected poems, and Sol's insight certainly added a good deal to my enjoyment of the poems. In a larger sense they helped inform my approach to poetry generally.

That's a lot to get out of a slim, idiosyncratic volume and as a consequence I was pleased, overall, with this engaging work.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)