Methodical Madness = Prosaic Poetry?

    I like books.  I like to say that I like all kinds of books.  In a sense that is true.  To be honest, I mostly like fiction, more specifically adventure fiction.  I like Arthur Conan Doyle about as much as any author.  It’s fast paced, easy to read and it makes me feel like I’m learning.  The funny thing is, I never know whether I’m learning facts or not.  Historical fiction can be pretty confusing because you never really know which facts are made up and which are real.  Are there really giant white monster whales?  Were there really peg legged captains of whaling ships?  How many harpoons does it take to kill a real whale?  Anyway, I have a little more trouble with some different genres.  For example, I like poetry, when I understand it, but I rarely understand it… [complete syllogism here].  I also have difficulty with non-fiction in general.  There are definitely some exceptions, Paul Johnson and Malcolm Gladwell have an enthralling narrative writing style.  However, a lot of non-fiction seems to be intended for textbook style information downloads.  Although, some textbooks actually do a pretty good job of presenting information.  Anyway, as I was reading Paradise Lost this weekend and thinking primarily of the reading quiz, I had an epiphany.  I’ve been looking for the wrong things in the wrong places.  There are two things that we get out of reading: knowledge and enjoyment.  Pleasure in reading comes from two sources in my experience.  One is narrative that creates empathy or a connection with characters whether real or imaginary.  The second is simple appreciation of skill in wordsmithing.  We like Hamlet because we understand indecision and because his soliloquies and images are humorous and meaningful.

    The purpose of textbooks is almost entirely informational.  Of course it is nice when the information presented is interesting, or when we enjoy an authors style or wit, but there’s a reason why professors have to assign reading quizzes for textbooks.  Poetry is primarily intended for enjoyment.  After reading a thousand words under the title “The Raven,” you might expect to know something about the bird’s anatomy, migratory patterns, lifespan and nesting habits.  That is, unless you just finished Edgar Allen Poe’s famed poem, in which case, you would know that Raven’s are eerie black fowl.  You might even have the impression that they have the gift of speech.  The nice thing about fiction is that most authors are trying pretty hard to keep the interest of their readers and also throw in some tidbits about something that is interesting.  You can learn a lot from a Tom Clancy novel as you worry about Jack Ryan’s adventures.

    Everything I’ve said so far is pretty obvious I guess, but my epiphany was that I’m disappointed when I don’t enjoy textbooks and I miss the beauty of poetry when I try to catch a few facts for a reading quiz.  Maybe I read textbooks too slowly and poetry too quickly.  When I read a textbook, maybe I should try to take in the most important information, spend extra time looking at facts, tables and equations and skip over some of the text that may not contain critical information.  On the other hand when reading poetry, I need to overcome the urge to quickly skim over it in order to check it off the “I’ve read that one” list or pass a reading quiz.  Time to give Milton another shot.