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Poetry Writing
- What is poetry?
Introduction
It may be better that we eschew a formal
definition that too easily satisfies a questioner. She will then
mistakenly believe that she has now understood and cease to reflect
on the question.
However, there are some things that we can expect to find in
poems– words with rhythm, an attitude, pictures. These together
elicit an emotional response such as delight, surprise, disgust,
shock, fear etc.
Poetry is a condensed form of writing – in a few words it can
say so much.
William Blake (1757-1827)
To See a World in a Grain of Sand
(About 1803)
To see a world
in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour
Blake’s use of metaphor contributes to the richness of his poem.
Margaret Atwood (b. 1939)
You Fit Into Me (1971)
you fit into me
like a hook into an eye
a fish hook
an open eye
Atwood uses strong imagery to convey a painful relationship.
A.R. Ammons (1926-2001)
COWARD (1975)
Bravery runs in my family.
Ammons uses a pun on the word "runs"
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How do I write a poem?
It begins with an idea, a feeling, a thought or a picture in
your mind. You feel a need to communicate it in writing. Do not try
to edit every line as you put down in writing for by doing this you
discourage yourself and may kill your poem writing attempt. Just
write down your whole thought with words that come to you. When you
have done so, then step back , like a painter, to admire the effect
– now you are ready to do some touch-ups.
Look at each line and consider if there are better words to
convey how you feel and what you see in your mind’s eye. It is
useful for you to know that there are different aspects to a poem –
rhythm, tone, imagery and figures of speech. By
understanding these aspects, you can convey your ideas much more
effectively. Of course, just like prose writing, we have to read
good poems to learn from the masters.
- I. Rhythm
Rhythms have a powerful impact on us – from the rocking of a
cradle, the swaying of a hammock to the crashing of waves on the
rock. Long after we returned home from an outing at the beach, we
continue to hear the crashing that carries with it a reassuring
unchanging rhythm.
Rhythm in a poem means the recurrence of stresses and pauses
in it. A stress (or accent) is a greater amount of force given to
one syllable in speaking than is given to another. We place a
stress on the first syllable of words such as dancing, paper,
forum, phantom and on the second syllable of words such as
concise, bottom, handsome and unkempt. When stresses
recur at fixed intervals, the result is called a meter.
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)
WE REAL COOL (1960)
The Pool Players.
Seven at the golden Shovel
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin grin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
A line that does not end in punctuation and that therefore is
read with only a slight pause after it is called a run-on line.
Since a run-on line gives us only part of a phrase, a clause, or
sentence, we have to read on to the line or lines following in
order to have the complete idea. Brooks’ rhythm in "We Real Cool"
mimics the rap-like fragments often spouted by street kids. She
ends each line with "We" - creating a sense of suspense of what
other misadventures there are to follow. The stress on the word
"We" emphasizes a group identity – a group of youth with
misguided notion of what is cool. It calls to question what mould
their anti-social values. The last line underscores their tragic
end. The poem evokes pathos (sadness and pity).
Some other examples of use of rhythm:
Pussy cat, pussy cat where have you been?
Mother Goose
Go and catch a falling star
John Donne
Tyger, tyger, burning bright
In the forest of the night
William Blake
- II. Tone
Like tone of voice, tone in writings conveys an attitude
towards the person addressed. From one’s manner, we can judge
him/her to be friendly, hostile, proud, scornful, humble,
affectionate, playful etc. The writer’s choice of words and
details makes clear her tone. To better appreciate the tone of a
poem ask a few questions:
- Does the speaker disclose any clear feeling or attitude
towards the subject of setting of the poem?
- If there is implicitly a listener to the poem, how does the
speaker address them?
- Is there a difference between your attitude and the
speaker’s to what is happening in the poem? If there is then it
may suggest irony – to say one thing and mean another.
Below is a poem by Wilfred Owen – who was only 21 when World
War I broke out in 1914. He was wounded twice and had quickly
promoted to be a company commander. Killed one week before the
end of World War I, he did not live to see the recognition of his
poetic genius as the most significant English language poet of
that war.
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
DULCE ET DECORUM EST 1920
(Dulce et…mori:a quotation from the Latin poet Horace, "It is
sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.")
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines* that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind that wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, -
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro Patria mori.
*Five-Nines: German howitzers often used to shoot poison gas
shells
Wildred Owen’s anti-war stance is very clear from the choice
of details in his poem. He had not written about how glorious it
is to slay the enemy in the name of liberty or democracy but he
chose to depict graphically how a soldier died in a poison shell
attack. He felt compelled to debunk the lie that it is glorious
to die for one’s country. The death depicted is not glorious but
awful and excruciating. His poems helped people to understand the
grim realities of soldiers who fought in the front line and
helped galvanize support for peace.
Sharon Olds (b 1942)
Rites of Passage (1983)
As the guests arrive at my son’s party
They gather in the living room-
Shortmen, men in first grade
With smooth jaws and chins
Hands in pocket, they stand around
Jostling, jockeying for place , small fights
Breaking out and calming. One says to another
How old are you? Six. I’m seven. So?
They eye each other, seeing themselves
Tiny in the other’s pupils. They clear their throats a lot, a
room of small bankers,
They fold their arms and frown. I could beat you
Up, a seven says to a six,
The dark cake, round and heavy as a
Turret, behind them on the table. My son,
Freckles like specks of nutmeg on his cheeks,
Chest narrow as the balsa keel of a
Model boat, long hands
Cool and thin as the day they guided him
Out of me, speaks up as a host
For the sake of the group.
We could easily kill a two-year-old
He says in his clear voice. The other
Men agree, they clear their throats
Like Generals, they relax and get down to
Playing war, celebrating my son’s life.
Olds made critical observation of her own son as well as his
friends at his birthday party. She made use of run-on lines to
give a sense of continuity – a series of inane, juvenile actions
and words of the young guests. She did not spare her own son,
putting down on record the worst line of all – "We could eaily
kill a two-year-old". She seemed to be aghast with the boys’
preoccupation with aggression and killing. The last two lines
were ironical – they played war – killing – to celebrate
his son’s life. It is interesting to note how Olds
observed her own son with the same critical eye unlike most
mothers who indulge their own children and seem blind to their
fault.
- III. Imagery
Although the word image suggests what is seen. Imagery in
poems refers to words that convey a sensory experience – sight,
hearing, taste, touch and smell. While reading a poem take note
also of the sequence of images through which the poet may be
trying to convey a certain meaning. Key adjectives are important
in crafting images.
Taniguchi Buson (1716- 1783)
THE PIERCING CHILL I FEEL (About 1760)
The piercing chill I feel
my dead wife’s
comb, in our bedroom,
under my heel…
- Translated by Harold G. Henderson
Buson through the tactile imagery of coldness of the comb
conveys a concrete sense of the abstract concept of death. The
sudden shock of the cold comb was like feeling the cold dead body
of his wife. There is much sense of loss, mourning and pining
that have been indirectly conveyed.
Haiku means "beginning verse" in Japanese. It consists of 5
syllables in the first line, 7 on the second and 5 on the last
line. Through imagery, poets aim to evoke responses.
Arakida Moritake (1473-1549)
THE FALLING FLOWER
The falling flower
I saw drift back on the branch
Was a butterfly
Translated by Babetter Deutsch
Matsuo Busho (1644-1694)
IN THE OLD STONE POOL
In the old stone pool
A frog jumps:
splishhhhh
Translations by X. J. Kennedy
- IV. Figures of
Speech
Figures of speech are words used metaphorically – not in the
ordinary meaning but are describing something by means of an
image or symbol. This helps to lend emphasis and freshness to the
expression.
"Your hair-do is like a bee-hive" is to use a simile. Using
connectors like "Like, as… than" or a verb "resembles". The two
things compared have to be of different kinds.
If we say "Your hair-do is a bee-hive", then we are using a
metaphor, saying one thing is something else.
All the world’s a stage.
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
William Shakespeare, As You Like It.
In the first line, Shakespeare uses a metaphor to describe the
world – it is a stage. In the second line, men and women are
metaphorically referred to as actors and actresses. One makes
his/her entrance (birth) and exit (death) on the stage and there
are seven stages in a man’s life. The use of stage brings to mind
– drama and theatre. If all are players, we wonder who the
audience are. Perhaps, we are all too preoccupied with "playing"
out our own story being in the limelight. No matter how great an
actor, or how interesting a story it is that we are playing out –
there must come an end and a time for one to bow out and the
curtain to come down. This poem may inspire a philosophical
examination of one’s life goals and priorities.
Life, like a dome of many-colored glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity
Shelley, Adonais
The first line uses a simile
Other figures of speech is personification in which a thing,
an animal or something abstract takes on human qualities.
James Stephen (1882-1950)
The wind stood up and gave a shout.
He whistled on his fingers and
Kicked the withered leaves about
And thumped the branches with his hand
And said he’d kill and kill and kill,
And so he will and so he will.
The wind is personified as a wild man of uncontrollable foul
temper who will wreak much destruction. Hence, it is most
probably a hurricane.
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