on Writing Forward:
Art is often viewed as a fun and leisurely activity. This is partly due to the fact that creating and consuming art is, in fact, fun. The best stories and poems flow so naturally, so smoothly, that it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone laboring over their creation. Laypersons tend to assume that people just wave a pen around and a beautiful poem comes flowing out. And there’s also a myth about artists creating everything from sheer talent rather than learning the skills necessary to their craft.
But few writers can sit down and casually produce an excellent poem. While untrained poets might occasionally create publishable works, most good poems are a combination of natural talent and learned skills. Even the act of reading poetry can benefit from a little training.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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One has to love poetry if one is to enjoy learning it, and enjoyment of the art form increases one’s ability to memorise poetry. For someone unfamiliar with poetry, I would recommend leafing through a good anthology (such as “The New Oxford Book of English Verse)” so as to expose oneself to a variety of poets and poetic styles. Reading collections by individual poets is, of course highly beneficial. However, for the person unfamiliar with poetry, reading one poet to whom one can not relate (or you find difficult) may, in some cases put the reader/budding poet off poetry, hence my suggestion of taking time with a good anthology. As an aside, I am often amazed that those who claim to dislike poetry, or to not understand it, are frequently lovers of pop music which does, of course often use rhyme (as does much poetry). Kevin
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Many thanks for those insights and tips Kevin
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