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**mrPronmaker** · 06-14-2008, 04:24 AM

I have struggled to enjoy Shelley. Most of the Shelley (and Wordsworth) I learnt were in classrooms in middle school where we were given to understand that these folks were good for learning of the language. Much like : "eat the vegetables they are good for you" So these metaphysical wrestlings have never been my cup of tea. I always felt very distant from these poems.

How did you get on with Ozymandias?

Actually, I had a similar difficulty when I encountered Shelley in middle school - the problem was that his poems are long, and definitely not modern in tone, which means it is often hard work at the start. It's a question of how the poems are introduced to readers, I think. I remember that my grandfather cured me of my unwillingness to read "To a skylark" by pointing me to a verse towards the end:

We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

This, and the three verses that come after, convinced me that the poem - and much else that Shelley wrote - was worth reading, and I pretty soon came to love his imagery and his choice of words, even if I don't quite agree with his attitude to life.

06-14-2008, 04:24 AM	#29
mrPronmaker Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 609 Senior Member	I have struggled to enjoy Shelley. Most of the Shelley (and Wordsworth) I learnt were in classrooms in middle school where we were given to understand that these folks were good for learning of the language. Much like : "eat the vegetables they are good for you" So these metaphysical wrestlings have never been my cup of tea. I always felt very distant from these poems. How did you get on with Ozymandias? Actually, I had a similar difficulty when I encountered Shelley in middle school - the problem was that his poems are long, and definitely not modern in tone, which means it is often hard work at the start. It's a question of how the poems are introduced to readers, I think. I remember that my grandfather cured me of my unwillingness to read "To a skylark" by pointing me to a verse towards the end: We look before and after, And pine for what is not: Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. This, and the three verses that come after, convinced me that the poem - and much else that Shelley wrote - was worth reading, and I pretty soon came to love his imagery and his choice of words, even if I don't quite agree with his attitude to life.
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