This is the first in a series of three videos where I will introduce some ways of reading poetry. In this instalment, I use ‘Fire and Ice’ by Robert Frost to show you how to conduct a close reading, and then to add the context of Frost’s other work, and finally to trace the work that influenced Frost, so that you can get a comprehensive view of the poem.
The aim is to provide introductory sessions to help you understand poetic and novelistic technique. To see how writers achieve their effects.
There will be two other videos in this series, coming monthly, one on sonnets, and one on sympathy, looking at Robert Hayden and Elizabeth Bishop. If you want to get the live interactive experience, I am running a salon about sonnets tomorrow, Thursday 5th October, at 19.00 UK time. You can sign up here.
Once this series is complete, I shall upload some videos for How to Read a Novel. This will all live in a new section, which you can find on the menu bar of the homepage, called How to Read Literature.
