All I know about poetry is that it rhymes and something about

>>8616910
>All I know about poetry is that it rhymes

Not necessarily.

>What do I need to learn to start trying to appreciate it?

That's like saying you need to learn film theory to appreciate movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duV2G5XTgQM

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>>8616951
Film theory helps to gain a deeper appreciation of it. You can do it yourself if you watch (or in OP's case, read/list) in a critical way and try to understand why the author did what they did. It's a bit of a brick wall when you're starting out though
Op needs to unironically start with the greeks since poetry, like all other lit, is rooted in the classics and you'll miss most of the references if you don't start at the start

>>8617005
>Op needs to unironically start with the greeks since poetry, like all other lit, is rooted in the classics and you'll miss most of the references if you don't start at the start
Can you stop fucking memeing him for one second? Firstly, reading poetry in translation is virtually pointless. Secondly, references and allusions are 1/1000th of what makes a poem work.

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The best way to appreciate poetry is to read and write it. If you understand the incredible difficulty of composing a decent and original sonnet, you'll also understand why Shakespeare is held up in schools as a superhuman genius superior to us mere mortals.

>>8616910
Read Rhyme's Reason by Hollander. It's only like 80 pages and it's one of the best sources for learning anything about poetry. Or take a class at college

>>8616910

Read Helen Vendler's Poems Poets Poetry. It'll teach you all how to read a poem and it will expose you to a range of classic poems and in so doing so help put you in toutch with your taste.