Poetry
This week: Visual or Spatial Verse Part Two Edited by: Red Writing Hood <3 More Newsletters By This Editor
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"Every poem can be considered in two ways--as what the poet has to say, and as a thing which he makes..."
C. S. Lewis
" Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. "
T. S. Eliot
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Visual or Spatial Verse: Formatting Poetry to Create Added Depth, Part Two: Butterfly Forms
No matter how you format your poetry it creates a visual by the way you choose your line lengths, syntax, punctuation, fonts, poem lenth, stanzas, etc. All these things and more create a visual; however what I will explore this year is the genre of shaped verse that creates a particular visual for the reader—meshing art and the written word. For the next few months I’ll share some specific shape forms. I’ll also discuss some things to keep in mind as you create this type of formatting. Today I will share some butterfly forms.
NOTE TO REMEMBER: One of the biggest pitfalls I see with this type of formatting is a great urge to create a visual that somehow this becomes the driving force and the poem suffers for it. Either the careful word choice is scrapped to make sure the specific shape is adhered to, or the use of metaphor and simile and other tools to create a depth of meaning are lacking because the focus was all about the shape. As in anything in life, the key is balance. Remember, you are creating a poem. Don’t let the formatting take over. Instead let it enhance and entrance the reader.
Calligram/Calligramme Butterfly
MUST HAVES
--Must use words to create a shape: Most calligrams connect the words with the shape in some way. In this case, the shape or outline of a butterfly.
COULD HAVES or WHAT IS THE POET’S CHOICE IN ALL THIS?
--Topic/theme.
--Line count.
--Meter.
--Number of stanzas: any, although stanzas can be a tricky thing as you create your word picture.
--Rhyme or not, it’s up to you.
Butterfly Cinquain
When centered (and you tilt your head to the side) it resembles a butterfly. If it is left-aligned it resembles a profile of a butterfly.
MUST HAVES
--Line count: 9
--Meter: Syllabic, and in the following order: 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, 8, 6, 4, 2
--Number of stanzas 1, unless it’s a chain.
--Rhyme: they don’t usually rhyme
COULD HAVES or WHAT IS THE POET’S CHOICE IN ALL THIS?
--Topic.
Oddquain Butterfly
Just like the butterfly cinquain, when centered (and you tilt your head to the side) it resembles a butterfly, and if it is left-aligned it resembles a profile of a butterfly.
MUST HAVES
--Line count: 9
--Number of stanzas: 1, unless creating an oddquain butterfly chain
--Meter: syllabic. The syllable count is 1/3/5/7/1/7/5/3/1.
COULD HAVES or WHAT IS THE POET’S CHOICE IN ALL THIS?
--Topic/theme: shape will usually match this area.
--Rhyme or not, it’s up to you.
SOURCE NOTES:
The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Edited by Ales Preminger and T. V. F. Brogan. 1993.
http://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/butterfly-cinquain/
https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/apollinaires-calligrammes-1918/
http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/oddquain.html
Turco, Lewis. The Book of Forms. 3rd. Lebanon, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 2000.
Williams, Miller (1986). Patterns of Poetry: An Encyclopedia of Forms. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press.
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Theme: various butterfly forms
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From: Lilli 🧿 ☕
Comment: Excellent and very interesting!!! Will be fun to try some of these out!
Thanks! I'm glad you think so, and I'm glad you took the time to share your thoughts with me! Reading comments from newsletter readers makes me smile.
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