 Poetry: July 14, 2010 Issue [#3850] |
  Poetry
This week: Poetry ~ dynamic tradition Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Welcome to this weeks' Writing.Com Poetry Newsletter. I'm honored to be your guest host and invite you to explore with me the Dynamic Tradition that is lyrical poetry.
Lyric poetry, In verse and prose, metered, rhyming or not, embraces and maintains and builds upon traditions that are as old as, and as vital as, humankind. And, when times are tough and the world seems to be a bit more out of control than yesterday, more of us turn to poetry and seek a connection to the past, to present, to nature and to our fellow humankind. It's a dynamic essential ~ explore with me and see if you agree.
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Greetings, fellow lyric wordsmiths.
I say 'wordsmiths' because poetry, the art of its vision and the craft of its expression, I think evolves from the crafting of words in recognizable lyric patterns.
 What is a poem? A written expression of emotion or ideas in an arrangement of words or verse most often rhythmic.
What is a poet? One who writes poetry.
What is a dwelling? A structure that provides shelter, respite, community or solitude.
How does a dwelling come to be? A craftsperson (carpenter, architect.
builder) uses tools to design and form with materials at hand a structure to provide shelter, respite, community or solitude. Okay, you write fantasy, and your dwelling appears by use of witchcraft - the 'craft' of the 'wyse' = point made.
What's the connection? As a dwelling, a poem is a lyric crafting of tools at hand (words) in patterns to create images of shelter, respite, community or solitude. It's not mere play on words, but crafting words into tangible images the listener can hear, see, taste, smell. And just as dwelling has some basic essential shapes upon which to build - round, square, octagon, flat, peaked, open, closed, an aesthetically pleasing domicile - so too a poem has recognizable shapes (form) upon which to build an aesthetically pleasing image.
Traditional Poetry in its myriad forms gives enduring life to a snapshot in time or place. The poet expresses his or her vision, real or imagined, using base shapes that are intelligible and pleasing to the ear of others, and likely to arouse emotions akin to those of the poet. Where prose describes events or images, a poem expresses those events or images, real or imagined, with enhanced sensory perception. The poet's eye sees through the obvious mundane to the essence of the experience, then communicates that combined vision by crafting a poem using the tools at hand - words in lyric patterns. A poem is distinguished by the feeling that dictates it and that which it communicates, by the sound, taste, and senseof its language, and by the imaginative power that integrates, intensifies and enhances experience.
The poet perceives and recognizes a pattern where he/she sees it and builds the perception into poetic form that is coherent to the ear and persuasive to the mind and/or heart of the listener. I think all poets borrow, as they each speak the words aloud, sensing the patterns inherent in the lyric quality of the words, be they smooth trochee or staccato iambs, and in their patterns evoke the sense of the place or event or image tangible or envisioned. I think poetry has by its nature an inner lyric, musical quality. Listen to leaves blowing at sunset. You can hear tree limbs bow and bend to a strong north wind as individual leaves applaud the day's final solar hurrah. Now the poet will take that image and share not merely a creaking limb or orange sky but the play of warm yellow lights across pulsing veined leaves waving goodnight or perhaps beckoning night's cooling silver moon.
Poetry can be crafted in verse or prose. Verse has a strong metrical element, although not necessarily in rhyme. An inner music is the essence of poetry, without which it becomes mere reporting - just the facts (or fiction) - heard and forgotten. Prose can be poetic when it's crafted with sensory and visionary detail in patterns to engage the listeners' senses. Think assonance and alliteration to focus on the taste of the vowels and consonants to create lyric patterns that express the essence of the event, image, idea. Consider Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Memorable lyric free verse inscribing the tone, vision and pathof a journey. Real aloud also the words crafted by Dylan Thomas, Robert Graves, Frost, Sarah Teasdale, Howard Nemerov (okay, I've a 'thing' for sonnets), Billie Collins, and hear the lyric voices express what they see, hear and imagine; then read aloud from Shakespeare, Poe - do you hear the lyric voices bring to life the world about each of them?
Consider next the brief but vivid haiku, speak the words and feel the summer sun waking a sparrow, hear sunset's lyric serenade of birds and crickets, be it today or hundreds of years ago, and the related lyric commentary. The crafting of colors and seasons and nature's essence into lyric patterns made memorable and real for the listener as for the poet by its relation to human nature.
See, traditional poetry is more than mere end-rhyming of lines of prose. It's a lyric painting or snapshot crafted upon the sound and imagery perceived by the poet and inscribed in sensory patterns of words for the reader/listener to perceive and experience because it's both recognizable and unique. It can tell a story or share a dream or describe the essence of a place or time known or imagined by the poet that the reader/listener can experience based upon his/her experience and perception.
Note that in this exploration of traditional poetry, I've refrained from using the word 'rule.' Traditional poetry is crafted upon patterns of words, images, syllables, sound that depict what the poet sees, hears, tastes, imagines. I hold that there is but one 'Rule' in poetry -
Read all poetry aloud.
I invite you to read - aloud - some of the poetry offered for your reading/listening by members of our Community and invite you further to continue the lyric conversation by sharing your perception of their vision with a comment or perhaps review
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Read aloud and experience some tradiitonal poetry in but a few of its myriad patterns of expression ~ some familiar 'western' styled rhyming, metered, formed and free - yes I include a sonnet or two
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How about a less familiar eastern tradition ~ a Ghazal
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You don't have to speak French to embrace this 'traditional' rhythm
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Gaelic/Celtic tradition still sings ~ hear the resounding voices
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Ae Freslighe- a verse form for Writers Cramp
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Let's not forget some of the oldest yet ever new traditional lyric patterns ~ nature manifest
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Interested in exploring more dynamic traditions? ~ check out the following guidance in voice and example from one of my mentors and friends, our "Kansaspoet" who passed over recently, yet his song remains alive and vital in true poetic lyric tradition  ~
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Now, ready to try building upon some traditional lyric verse ~ consider the following challenges offered for several traditions ~ and for some more good reads (aloud) 
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As a guest host, I don't have recent comments to share, but instead invite you to find expression for what you see with poet's eye in traditional forms, western, eastern, metered, rhyming, lyrical, visual, sensual ~ yes each a traditional form upon which to build and create your own lyric song. Speak the words aloud while writing, and read aloud from poets past and present to add your voice poetic to a dynamic lyric tradition.
Until we next meet,
my fellow lyric wordsmiths,
Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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