[Fully]

I don't even read 'em. I have enough trouble trying to dissect Erickson's regular writing, let alone the complexities of poetry. I read the historical ones, but as soon as I see poetry, I'm like "screw this, on to the chapter."

[Tatterdemalion]

I ALWAYS read the preliminary poems and accounts at the END of the chapter prior. I always start in again fresh with the book itself. I think it's a wise way of doing things. It satisfies your "Oh, just a bit more!" while not making you go "Why am I reading this again?"

I like and appreciate the poetry, I do.
But I prefer the historical accounts (where did they go? So many in DG...) because I have an insatiable lust for information about the universe.

[Salt-Man Z]

Tatterdemalion, on 17 August 2010 - 05:41 AM, said:

I ALWAYS read the preliminary poems and accounts at the END of the chapter prior. I always start in again fresh with the book itself.

I thought I was the only one!

[D'iversify]

I also prefer the historical or semi-philosophical passages to the poems. Reading TtH recently, some of them were pretty dull, even awful. But one which really stood out for me (I think this was what it was called) was 'When the Music Ends' (Fisher Kel Tath), probably because its structure is quite simple but it feels a lot more profound in this relative simplicity than his more obscure ones.

[Adjutant Stormy~]

The passages are atmospheric, and they do a good amount of painting some fine details of the setting. Plot-important? No. But they certainly represent SE's ability to wordbuild.

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

I really liked None but Strangers at the beginning of chapter 12, in TtH

[Trailblazer]

They seem to create additional depth to an already profoundly deep world. I enjoy them, and they are a trademark of Erikson's vague style of worldbuilding.

[Abyss]

Some are brilliant, some are completely disconnected, some add context to the chapter they open and quite a few actually add context to the chapter you just finished (i noticed this a lot in MT).

There are also many of them that make no sense at all until a re-read - there's a reference to War Leader Temul in one chapter opener in MoI. At that point Temul was named once, very very briefly at the end of DG, so it means almost nothing. Then he gets bigger roles in HoC and then TB, and on the reread that opener is just brilliant.

On a first read of a new MBF book, i read the short ones, and the historic text ones, but tend to skim the poems. I pay more attention on the reread. It's a nice bonus because there are openers all the way back to GotM that mean nothing until you're further into the series. I am REALLY going to try and force myself to read them in TCG.

[Defiance]

Some of his poetry is fantastic, but the majority is either mediocre or a load of crap. As others have said, the history stuff is a lot better.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

I tend to actually skip the poems and read only the prose ones which are brilliant. Either for adding information like how Heboric was going to be the Destriant of Fener or because thy are simply a great read like the one of Chapter 6 of TtH

This post has been edited by Bauchelain the Evil: 29 October 2010 - 09:39 AM

[Thel Akai]

Same here. Most of the poetry I'm for some reason unable to comprehend anyway (except the simple poems by the girl of the snake), the words just revert from information to words with no meaning. The prose I read though.