The first thing you should probably know, if you really want to act like the title of this blog is to be well-read you must but some effort in. Meaning you need to have heard of a wide range of literature, today I will start with poetry.
Knowing about poetry is essential to being a well-read, smart and cultured teen. Now my suggestion is to do a search on the internet of famous and more obscure poets, throw in a few medieval, some Victorian era English, famous Americans, German... Swedish (although be aware that if you choose LOTE poets, you will probably have to learn the original and English translation) even some modern, (but only the prissy sounding ones.) Once you have a list of various poets print it off, cut them up and put them in a hat, then draw five poets.
Once you have your five poets, do some basic research, (i.e. read the first paragraph of their Wikipedia page, look at some opinions mesh them together and voila; you have your own unique opinion) now comes the hard part, this is serious for those wanting to really look like a priss. Memorise some of the poems, this is not that hard. I'm sure most people have memorised a four minute song and then there a people like me who have memorised Bohemian Rhapsody and most of Meatloaf's eleven minute ballads, but I blame my parents for that one...
Anyway so if you can memorise a four-seven minute song I'm sure you can manage a five verse poem (tiny tip #1: memorise poems in little rhymy sentences e.g. "Why did you give no hint that night/ that quickly after the morrow's dawn/ and calmly as if indifferent quite" -The Going, Thomas Hardy, December 1912. Also say it with a rhythm like a ball is bouncing along, but not when it comes to actually reciting it!) Try to spread out your timeline of poems, choose some of the poets most famous and their most obscure, try to find out facts about it, such as dates and hidden meanings and occurrences.
Now to make this all convincing you must know the difference between actually like poetry and pretending. A person who genuinely likes poetry will probably have a few cheap poetry books that they got on sale from a library, the will also shape the words with their mouth as they read poetry and maybe whisper it with feeling, they will also read a few poets and have definite favourites and say really cheesy reasons about why they like poetry <Take notes of all those things.
People who don't genuinely like poetry will agree with whatever you say about it (so make you sure you have an opinion), they will avoid eye contact on the subject and they will try to make bullshit sentences that are laughable (but don't laugh at the poor souls, just gently recommend this blog) and completely wrong about poets and will spurt an exact response of whatever your English teacher had said.
Knowing about poetry, or accurately pretending to is key to seeming well-read, smart and cultured. Just keep in mind that the most important thing about poetry is having an opinion on it, preferably yours or plagiarise an obscure one.
Once you have your five poets, do some basic research, (i.e. read the first paragraph of their Wikipedia page, look at some opinions mesh them together and voila; you have your own unique opinion) now comes the hard part, this is serious for those wanting to really look like a priss. Memorise some of the poems, this is not that hard. I'm sure most people have memorised a four minute song and then there a people like me who have memorised Bohemian Rhapsody and most of Meatloaf's eleven minute ballads, but I blame my parents for that one...
Anyway so if you can memorise a four-seven minute song I'm sure you can manage a five verse poem (tiny tip #1: memorise poems in little rhymy sentences e.g. "Why did you give no hint that night/ that quickly after the morrow's dawn/ and calmly as if indifferent quite" -The Going, Thomas Hardy, December 1912. Also say it with a rhythm like a ball is bouncing along, but not when it comes to actually reciting it!) Try to spread out your timeline of poems, choose some of the poets most famous and their most obscure, try to find out facts about it, such as dates and hidden meanings and occurrences.
Now to make this all convincing you must know the difference between actually like poetry and pretending. A person who genuinely likes poetry will probably have a few cheap poetry books that they got on sale from a library, the will also shape the words with their mouth as they read poetry and maybe whisper it with feeling, they will also read a few poets and have definite favourites and say really cheesy reasons about why they like poetry <Take notes of all those things.
People who don't genuinely like poetry will agree with whatever you say about it (so make you sure you have an opinion), they will avoid eye contact on the subject and they will try to make bullshit sentences that are laughable (but don't laugh at the poor souls, just gently recommend this blog) and completely wrong about poets and will spurt an exact response of whatever your English teacher had said.
Knowing about poetry, or accurately pretending to is key to seeming well-read, smart and cultured. Just keep in mind that the most important thing about poetry is having an opinion on it, preferably yours or plagiarise an obscure one.
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