 Poetry: September 23, 2015 Issue [#7224] |
  Poetry
This week: Rhythm without Rhyme ~ Blank Verse Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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"...the writing of poems....
the call of overhearing music that is not yet made."
Mary Kinzie, in A Poet's Guide to Poetry
Poetry is the lyrical rendition of the rhythm of sight, sound, touch, taste; of living, seen through the eyes of a poet and consigned to paper and laptop and keyboard until it can be read aloud. Yes, all poetry needs to be read aloud, to savor the rhythm in the words, and revive the images the poet inscribed on the pages of a book or computer.
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Greetings!
I'm not a poet, I'm a writer. I write stories, a novel, articles, not verse. I write plain words, not flowery esoteric images.
Have some of you thought that, or said it, or the old have a friend who..."? Let me debunk the statements.
 First, we write poetry, therefore we are writers 
 Poetry is not necessarily carved of twenty-dollar words, but shows an image with both picturesque and plain words. The rising sun carves rainbows in the fog. Plain, understandable words, are they not?
And, just as there is variety in length, genre, style of a story, likewise poem. So writers, let's explore a versatile, interpretive style of writing poems. (Notice the stress on writing, remember, we write poetry 
Let's explore today, Blank Verse I
Blank verse flows well from common speech, and works to free the muse poetic either in passion or reflection (meditation). There is no end-rhyme pattern but there is an internal metric beat. Think how you tap your fingers to the downbeat of a familiar tune. Yes, as all poetry, perhaps more so, blank verse must be spoken aloud to feel the rhythm or passion of extended sentences and to hear the internal patterns or rhymes. Consider the plays of Shakespeare, Milton's poems (Paradise Lost) and the lyric poetry of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost (Mending Wall).
 Blank verse does not have ending rhymes (for the most part) and can be composed of any amount of feet (rhythmic pattens) but are most familiarly the iambic pentameter. That is two beat syllables soft and hard, iAM iAM iAM iAM iAM (iamb 5 times in a line). And you will find, as in natural speech, other meters interspersed - as inflection or exhortation occurs.
 Blank verse, as opposed to free verse, however, does have a dominant meter - most often the iambic pentameter noted above, but if you read aloud (as all poetry needs to be read to be heard), then as in speech, you will find an occasional emphatic three-syllable beat anapest (I'm a PEST, I'm a PEST) or contemplative dactyl {DAC ty lic, DAC tyl ic), or troche (two consecutive syllables either stressed or unstressed). Blank verse also works with a contemplative or meditative dactyl downbeat. The naming of the meter and beat is defined by the main thread that you hear and sense while reading aloud.
 Blank verse is generally focused on an image and a journey in words to resolve the image.
 Blank verse does not have end rhymes AND the images conveyed are not ended in each line. The verse focuses on a longer, more detailed contemplation and ejambment carries through to the next line, to stop where the thought or image would naturally pause or end, while maintaining the rhythm into the next pentameter (using pentameter as an example (5 two syllable beats, for example, per line). Then, in the next 'line' you will find a stop in the form of a period or comma, before beginning the next thought. That's enjambment for you word sleuths 
 Although there is not customarily end-rhyming in blank verse, internal rhyme - within a line or to tie together an enjambed thought - often serves to focus an image.
 Rhythm and cadence is also conveyed in blank verse by use of assonance - repeated vowel sound within a line or enjambed image, and alliteration - repeated consonant sounds within said line or enjambed image.
I see blank verse as similar to a story poem, but with meter and rhythm to convey passion or contemplative reflection.
I invite you to read - aloud - the blank verse poems envisioned by some of our members. You will see how versatile the metrical form can be and perhaps give it a try. I wrote my first just last week - and it was a lyric contemplation that helped me focus with depth.
 Consider the following publications that from their guidelines would appear to welcome blank verse 
http://www.bluemondayreview.com/#!guidelines/c1enr
http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/submitguidelines.php
Write On 
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
My resources - "A Poet's Guide To Poetry," Mary Kinzie; (c) 1999 by the University of Chicago
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I invite you to read - Aloud ~ the following penned by members of our Community for your reading (and reviewing pleasure ~ then weave and share a blank verse of your own
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I hope you've enjoyed this exploration and, whether you write in verse regularly or are new to lyric expression, remember, regardless of form or free, fixed or blank,
Read all poetry aloud ^_^
Write On
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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