When we read good writing, we get lost in the experience and in the images the words are creating in our minds. We are transported.
Whenever I read, I feel like i am in the story. I feel like i am engaging with the characters, the plot, the scenery... the list goes on
Sometimes this concept confuses my students. “But I can feel love,” they say. “I can feel anger.” And, yes, of course we can recall what those emotions feel like when they are referenced in a poem. And, in fact, we feel actual sensations brought on by these emotions when they happen. Our blood races when we’re in love, our stomach jumps when our lover or someone we desire walks into sight. We feel our chests swell when we think about our mothers and our fathers, but when we read abstract words like “love” and “anger” we experience them in a vague, cloudy way, reliant more on our own individual memories that involved our five senses to make, rather than the poem itself using our five senses through imagery to create a new experience and memory.
there is emotional value when creating these poems and utilizing specific terms to capture those images that represent emotion, beauty, poise, etc.
the poem shifts its spotlight on the feelings of the speaker
imagery shows its message to the audience when reading a poem, rather than a simple literal image
Ideally, the poem should recreate the experience of a poem through concrete details so the reader isn’t merely told about the experience through the speaker, but shown the experience which the poet recreates in a way that engages the reader’s five senses.
Creating these experiences in poetry can grasp onto ideologies of new discoveries through literature and art; if you are discovering a new world.