Learn to Love Poetry: A Reading Guide for Beginners

“Read poetry every day of your life... What poetry? Any poetry that makes your hair stand up along your arms. Don’t force yourself too hard. Take it easy. Over the years you may catch up to, move even with, and pass T. S. Eliot on your way to other pastures. You say you don’t understand Dylan Thomas? Yes, but your ganglion does, and your secret wits, and all your unborn children. Read him, as you can read a horse with your eyes, set free and charging over an endless green meadow on a windy day.”
— Ray Bradbury, from "Zen and the Art of Writing"

Poetry is personal.

That’s lesson #1.

There is no right or wrong way to write or read poetry.

This can irritate a lot of people. In general, we are more comfortable when there are rules. We like guidelines, parameters, a clear beginning-middle-end.

We don’t get that in poetry. Poetry is too free for that. That is why so many of us hate it.

It is also why all of us can benefit from it.

If you've never been into poetry, but you're interested in dipping your toes in the water, I've got a reading list for you!

This is not a definitive guide. It is not a complete list. It is certainly not perfect. Even as I am hitting “Publish,” my head is swimming with so many other names—poets who have touched my heart and inspired my life choices.

That is the beauty of reading poetry: it exists in multitudes. One poem leads to another—signposts guiding you in new directions. Because there is such a vast offering of poetry in the world, it can be overwhelming to know where to begin, if you’ve never read poetry before. Here are my suggestions. Some starting points. That’s what this list is made up of. Ultimately, it is up to you, the reader and traveller to discover the next sign, and choose which way you’ll turn next.

Enjoy the journey. And if you don’t like the first poetry you try, don’t worry about it. You’re free to keep moving. But don’t stop searching until you find the poem that really hits. It’s waiting for you to discover it.

Interior with a Woman Reading, by Carl Holsøe

Interior with a Woman Reading, by Carl Holsøe

Learn to Love Poetry: A Reading Guide for Beginners

If you've never been into poetry, but you're interested in learning how to read—and enjoy—it, this is the reading list for you! This is not a definitive guide. It is not a complete list. It's just a collection of my favorite poets and poetry collections...and is heavily biased towards Mary Oliver.

*NOTE: I am a proud affiliate of these books, and I do receive a small commission from each sale.

Letters to a Young Poet

by Rainer Maria Rilke

Leaves of Grass

by Walt Whitman

American Primitive

by Mary Oliver

salt.

by Nayyirah Waheed

The Weary Blues

by Langston Hughes

Betting on the Muse

by Charles Bukowski

A Coney Island of the Mind

by Lawrence Ferlingetti

Selected Poems: William Carlos Williams

by William Carlos Williams

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