This is a key question that I find myself pondering as I work on the order of poems in the mansucript for my first full collection. Do we read from cover to cover or do we dip in where the book just happens to open?
Well, my own feeling is that people read in both ways. As for myself, I tend to move through a collection from start to finish on a first reading. This is to try to get a grip on how it ebbs and flows. Afterwards, however, I'll return to the book at random, flicking back and forth, digging more deeply into individual pieces.
As a consequence, I'm breaking my poems down into pairs that engage in dialogues with each other, all within the framework of how I want the collection to read as a whole. Furthermore, I'm continually bearing in mind Matt Merritt's remarks to me in a conversation a few years ago: as a journalist in his day job, he felt we often read poetry books much as we read newspapers, in that the right-hand page attracts more of our attention.
After every revision I print up and provisionally bind the collection, ensuring that the left-hand, right-hand ordering is respected throughout. I then go back over it, viewing it as a whole, viewing it in pairs. All those revisions will click into place one day, just like when I chip away at an individual poem, and I'll suddenly know the manuscript is ready!
DISPLACED They called her aloof, impractical, clumsy, plain. It was, they
say, difficult for her not to fall in love.In spite, that is, of the first
coughs...
Hi Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI am definitely a very linear reader. Whilst I don't place greater emphasis on either page, I suspect subconsciously the right hand page does attract more attention! not least because of the way I hold a book - I don't like to break the spine and the right hand side is always more square on to me!! Good luck with the manuscript.
HI Stephen,
DeleteThanks for commenting and for your encouragement,
I have to admit I love cracking a book's spine!
I tend to initially read from start to finish too. I don't think I'd call it a trend, but some books I've recently [re]read use the first poem almost as a prologue - I'm thinking of "Black Country" by Liz Berry, "Tonight the Summer's Over" by Rory Waterman, Seamus Heaney's "Death of a Naturalist, etc.
ReplyDeleteAlso, books often have a batch of so-so poems before the final sequence. Sometimes there's a sag a third of the way in too ...
Hi Tim,
DeleteYes, I do agree that most collections sag in the middle third, as if poets want to draw you in with a strong start and leave you with a good aftertaste.
As a left-hander, I usually go to the back of a magazine (and often a book) and move from there either back a double-spread or perhaps to the front. It's never long before I look at the Contents page to see if there are themes/sections etc. After this initial perusal, I read through from the front unless a particular section or poem title leaps out, demanding my immediate attention. And yes, the right hand page is almost always the easier one to see (probably even if the poetry lines on the left side are really short). The only exception is when you have poetry in a lie-flat style coffee table book ... which is rare!
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline,
DeleteI'm a left-hander too, but I'd never thought that this might affect how I read. Thak you for changing my own assumptions!
Dear Matthew
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your fist full collection. I published my first full collection 'Victorian Values' back in 1995. What I do is put the fifty plus pages on the floor and try different permutations until I am satisfied with the order. I usually try to get one poem to 'lead into' the next so that the sequence isn't too jerky or jarring.
Best wishes from Simon R. Gladdish
HI Simon,
DeleteYes, flow is key, isn't it? Easy to say, difficult to achieve.
Just to add, Matthew, that when I began to write as a young child, it seemed instinctive to me to start at the righthand side of the page and work backwards. I gather this is not uncommon among lefthanders!
ReplyDelete