Although I am an avid reader, I have never been a fan of poetry. Whilst I will happily obliterate a weekend devouring volumes of Tolstoy, Dickens, Greene and other classic writers, the thought of reading a Shakespearean sonnet sends me to sleep! Well.. at least until my recent awakening. I have learned that enjoying a good book and appreciating poetry are two vastly different things. In a book, there is a storyline to follow and characters to relate to; a great story can easily transport the most humble reader into another world. However, poetry is more akin to photography or painting. It plays with language in rich and surprising ways to create an evocative picture and like most art forms, poetry is always open to interpretation.
