The Synesthetic Lens: A New Approach to Reading Poetry

Abstract

There are two types of people who can have a synesthetic experience: those who are synesthetes and thus possess the inherent perceptual phenomena to experience one sense as another; and non-synesthetes who can still demonstrate highly metaphoric thinking, which allows them to blend different senses in their art. In poetry specifically, we often read and experience what Downey calls literary synesthesia, where a poet formulates metaphors which feel like a real synesthetic experience. As a synesthete myself, I explore the effects my synesthesia has on my experiences with reading and writing poetry, and later discuss my method of applying a synesthetic “lens” to the reading and writing process. This method allows me to read and enjoy certain 20th and 21st century poets, who are often misunderstood or dismissed as too confusing to be meaningful or enjoyable. Furthermore, I will discuss the poem’s—any poem’s—ability to be perceived and experienced as a synesthetic object, even if the poem in question does not demonstrate any obvious synesthetic metaphor. Any reader of poetry, synesthete or not, could apply a lens of synesthesia to any word, poem, or piece of art, and experience the piece through more senses than before.