This week: The Power of Poetry Edited by: Lilli 🧿 ☕  
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There are countless forms of poetry! Sonnets, epics, ballads, odes? Have you ever given any thought to where they originated?
What about other lesser-known traditional poetic forms, say, Chashtushka, the traditional form of poetry in Russia? Or Pathya Vat from Cambodia? Viators of Canada or Minnesangs of Germany?
This week we'll embark on a poetic journey across the globe! |
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 Japan
With the mention of Japan, the first form you might think of is Haiku; but there’s way more to Japan’s poetry than that! Japan has several other traditional forms of poetry: Dodoitsu, Renga, Shichigon-zekku, Senryu, and Waka. Senryu and Haiku may be the most popular forms of Japanese poetry internationally, but the most traditional has to be Waka.
Waka, when translated from Japanese, simply means ‘Japanese poem’.
During the Heian period (794-1185), lovers used wakas instead of everyday language; while writers and aristocrats exchanged waka.
The waka is a 5-line poem (or stanza) that is often considered synonymous with the tanka because both have a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable per line structure. However, the waka groups its lines together in a particular way. The first 2 lines should make up one piece, the next 2 lines should make the next, and then, the final line can stand on its own or as part of the second group.
Example:
After
by Robert Lee Brewer
midnight stalks the grounds
of your partly eclipsed heart,
beating the sunshine
across this sad calendar--
remembering past cycles...
Cambodia
Most people know little about Cambodia and maybe even fewer know anything about its literature.
Pathya Vat is a Cambodian style of poetry and has to be one of the simplest forms to understand - even for me! Recitation and singing of the pathya vat is very important, as they are meant to be read aloud. They can be recited in many styles, which include anger (kamhoeung) and grief (tumnuonh).
This form basically consists of four lines, where the second and third line must rhyme. In case the poem has more than one verse, the last line of the first stanza and the second and third lines of the next must rhyme.
Example:
Bookworms
by Simon McGurk.
Searching amongst
these dusty piles
of books, he smiles
and picks a few
To curl up with
while coffee brews
content to lose
himself in lands
Where dragons roar
heroes still stand
with sword in hand
to save the world
Russia
A traditional form of Russian poetry is Chastushka. The poems are humorous, satirical, and commonly recited accompanied by accordion music. They typically sing a Chastushka quatrain with a brief pause afterward so listeners can laugh, missing nothing from the next. Awfully considerate, lol.
Chastuskas cover a very wide spectrum of topics, from lewd jokes to political satire, including such diverse themes as love songs and Communist propaganda. During Soviet times, the government even published extensive collections of “ideologically correct” chastushkas.
Chastushka is a single quatrain in trochaic tetrameter with an abab or abcb rhyme scheme.
Example:
(The vast majority of folk chastushkas are lewd or laden with vulgarities. Here is a mild example. The English translation preserves the chastushka rhyme and meter and the main meaning.)
Time got shifted by an hour
From Khabarovsk to Donbass.
Morning wood'd been in the shower,
Now I have it on the bus.
*Title and author unknown, but this poem was written when Daylight Saving Time was introduced to the region.
Germany
To most people, the sound of the German language is harsh, brittle, and not very romantic sounding. So, it may surprise you to hear about the Minnesänge poetry form. It is a form and song that became very popular in the Middle High German era and is considered a version of the French “courtly love”. The subject of these songs and poems is almost always love. Minnesänge, the word itself, stems from the “minne”, which is the Middle High German word for love. Those who sang these were known as Minnesänger (Sänger, which means singer in German).
The form is written in uniform stanzas although the number of lines in the stanza per poem is variable, but sixains were popular. Often iambic tetrameter with variable rhyme schemes; typically ababcc and another was abbcaa dxd x being unrhymed.
Example:
Title and author unknown
You are mine, I am yours,
Thereof you may be certain.
You’re locked away
within my heart.
Lost is the key
And you must ever be therein!
The same sixain in Modern German:
Du bist mein, ich bin dein:
des(sen) sollst du gewiss sein.
Du bist verschlossen
in meinem Herzen.
Verloren ist das Schlüsselein:
du musst immer darin sein!
If you decide to give any of these forms a try, I'd love to read them!
Just drop me a note in the comment section below!
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| | | Little Bella Boo (E)
So Hii I'm new,I wrote this poem for school, and I wanted to share it so yeah.
#2293669 by Anna  |
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Comments received from my last Poetry Newsletter, "Ah, Poetry!" , when asked how we can celebrate Poetry Month beyond April:
PiriPica  wrote...
I intend to celebrate poetry in at least three ways. One is to educate myself further, by buying Stephen Fry's Ode Less Travelled. I intended to work through it by focusing on the parts that make me feel most inspired to write. The second is to read more poetry in my own language, Norwegian. I both intended to read more from well known Norwegian writers of the past, but also from temporary writers, especially from Norwegian minorities. Third, I want to work on writing poetry for my family that I can use for special occations, like birthdays, weddings and holiday celebrations. I don't know how much time all of this will take, but I imagine it will give me poetry projects to work on in the foreseeable future.
Pumpkin Harvest wrote...
I have a friend in another city who belongs to a poetry club. He's way older than I but hasn't lost his creative zeal. He's not afraid to share with others. I've let other worries and anxieties get in the way of my creativity. I'm re-committing to writing poems, no matter how bad they seem to me. I will read some poetry to the kids in my extended family.
Penelope Moonbeam  wrote...
I enter as many poetry contests as I can each month. It teaches me how to write different forms and styles. I never knew this until I joined WDC. The newsletters I receive are great and of course, I collect trinkets whenever I find them. Thanks for the newsletter. They make my day and help me a lot. I continue my poetry every month.
🌻 thankful pwheeler nano  wrote...
Super newsletter, Lilli! 
I celebrate poetry all year by writing a poem every day. 
Monty  wrote...
No end to most poets' writing, only an end to what they post.
tj-turkey-jobble-jobble-hard-J  wrote...
I enjoy poetry and have written some fair poems myself. But I find that it comes and goes; I either have a poetic moment or I don't. I have discovered that reading poetry can reignite the poetic spark. I have even written responses to some poems after reading them and feeling motivated to "reply" to the poem. |
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Poetry: May 03, 2023 Issue [#11935]
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