There’s no one "right" way to read poetry, but one of the most fun ways is to read poetry aloud. It's a pleasure you may have picked up while learning nursery rhymes as a kid.

Poetry is meant to be heard. It predates the written word, after all. And there are many examples of oral poetry forms, from rap to Latvian dainas to the Basque bertsolaritza.

If you worry about reciting a poem the wrong way, don't. Just take your time and enjoy the sounds. Speaking poetry aloud is not unlike singing, and it can be enjoyed in a group or on your own.

Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins gives a few tips for reciting a poem on the Library of Congress of website, and we've published them here:
 

1. Read the poem slowly.
Most adolescents speak rapidly, and a nervous reader will tend to do the same in order to get the reading over with. Reading a poem slowly is the best way to ensure that the poem will be read clearly and understood by its listeners. Learning to read a poem slowly will not just make the poem easier to hear; it will underscore the importance in poetry of each and every word. A poem cannot be read too slowly, and a good way for a reader to set an easy pace is to pause for a few seconds between the title and the poem's first line.

2. Read in a normal, relaxed tone of voice.
It is not necessary to give any of these poems a dramatic reading as if from a stage. The poems selected are mostly written in a natural, colloquial style and should be read that way. Let the words of the poem do the work. Just speak clearly and slowly.

3. Obviously, poems come in lines, but pausing at the end of every line will create a choppy effect and interrupt the flow of the poem's sense.
Readers should pause only where there is punctuation, just as you would when reading prose, only more slowly.

4. Use a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words and hard-to-pronounce words.
To read with conviction, a reader needs to know at least the dictionary sense of every word. In some cases, a reader might want to write out a word phonetically as a reminder of how it should sound. It should be emphasized that learning to read a poem out loud is a way of coming to a full understanding of that poem, perhaps a better way than writing a paper on the subject.

If you want to go public with your new poetry skills, check out this video series with tips on recitation from Poetry Out, an organization that helps students engage with poetry through memorization and recitation. Or, if you’re looking for inspiration, you may want to hear poets read their own work. One of our favorite ways to do this is listening to the Poetry magazine podcast and, of course, with the tons of audiobooks you can borrow for free from NYPL.


Other topics in the Inside Poetry series:

• What Is Poetry, Anyway? 
• Where Do I Find Poems?
• What are the Different Types of Poetry? 
• What is the Anatomy of a Poem?