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The W.C. newsletter for April 21, 2003 |
** Image ID #427081 Unavailable ** ******************** Weekly Editor's Letter Poetry, a very individual genre of writing, envokes emotional reponses from writer and reader. Since I'm going to be presenting a seminar on writing poetry at a book festival this fall, I decided to share some of my "lessons" or presentation material with you. The material I use in each section has been developed from sources, such as textbooks and literature handbooks, and notes that I collected and used over my twenty-five years of teaching poetry. Each is presented as if a lesson with notes, exercises, and assignments. I could not begin to present all I have found, all I know, or all I've learned about poetry. Hundreds of books have been written about poetry, and a slight sampling of the information found in some of them is given here. Hopefully, what I present here will be educational and helpful. Maybe some will even be interesting. What Is Poetry From the writings of poets over the centuries, we discover certain words attached to the meaning of poetry: emotion, imagination, idea (thought), truth (meaning), sentiment, passion, power, sense impression, interpretation, beauty, dignity, rhythm, freshness of expression, orderly arrangement, concreteness, pleasure. Therefore, we can find three qualities common to all poetry: content, form, and effect. Content of poetry is usually emotional, imaginative, compact with meaning, marked with by power, beauty, and dignity. 1. Poetry involves emotion, is full of sentiment and passion. The emotions a scene, an experience, an attachment evoke in the writer are transformed into words. 2. Poetry is imaginative. A poet doesn’t speak or write in factual or scientific language but wants the reader to respond to the physical effect of something rather than the abstract concept. For example, he would write about the sky as the heavens, as azure, as the effect that the sky creates in his imagination, not the elements that compose the atmosphere. 3. Poetry has significance. Poetry, according to E. A. Robinson, tries to tell us something that cannot be said. 4. Beauty is found in poetry. According to Shelley, “Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that which is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most deformed...; it strips the veil of familiarity from the world, and lays bare the naked and sleeping beauty, which is the spirit of its forms.” (C. Hugh Holman, A Handbook to Literature, 1972, page 406) 5. Poetry is dignified, usually. It is grand, magnificent and marches with fanfare. Poetry has form. 1. Rhythm is found in poetry. Reading poetry, one finds “variety in uniformity,” a shifting of rhythms which returns to the basic pattern. Even in free verse a recurrence of rhythm is more uniform than in prose. 2. Arrangement / order is another key to poetry. a. Rhythm and rhyme result in a “poetic” arrangement of phrases and clauses. In other words, the line length is effected. b. Inversion is justified in poetry. 3. Poetry is concrete. Most poetry is characterized by compactness of thought and expression, possessing an intense unity, carefully arranged in climatic order. A vital element of great poetry is concreteness, insisting on the specific, the precise. Lines of poetry should present a specific, precise image. According to Milton, the language of poetry was “simple, sensuous, and impassioned..” The function of poetry is to present images concretely. Therefore, the responsibility of the poet is to select language which succeeds in making his images specific. The language of poetry is rich in figure of speech, metonymy, synecdoche (the part represents the whole), and metaphor. 4. Poetry has an effect or purpose. The ultimate purpose of poetry is to please. The various senses may be appealed to, the various emotions may be called forth. Note: Three types of poetry (the epic, the dramatic, the lyric) have been evolved into subgroups that include all poetry. Further subdivisions have been made on the basis of mood and purpose. Poetry Terms and Devices The following "lesson" deals with poetry terms and devices, although not all of them, just the major, more familiar ones that every poet should recognize and hopefully use. This section doesn't have a writting assignment because it presents material that will be used with other sections.
Prose vs Poetry "Prose vs Poetry" gives a general overview of the differences between prose and poetry. A writing assignment is included as well as examples.
Sensory Words Good writing, whether prose or poetry, requires the use of sensory words to create good descriptions. The next item doesn't have a writing assignment, but includes information that I keep at my fingertips for writing help, for all kinds of writing.
Writing a Sensory - Emotion Poem The next step is to use the information and material we have to write a sensory/emotion poem. The link below gives directions and an assignment as well as example poetry.
Personal and Impersonal Poetry We can approach poetry in a personal or subjective manner, or we can use an impersonal or objective approach. The following link gives more information as well as examples and an assignment.
Mood in Poetry The imagery we project in any writing, but especially poetry, creates the emotional mood of that piece. Imagery is created through the words we use. If we want a cheerful mood in a poem, we don't use gloomy words; we use words with bright, happy connotations and meaning. We can take the same ideas and write poems of different moods. The next "lesson" contains examples and an assignment.
Using the Right Word In order to create the perfect imagery, we must use the right word. Just because words are synonymous doesn't mean they are exactly the same. House, hut, mansion, and dwelling are synonyms, but which word would be the best to use in the following sentence? The ________ quivered and trembled in the wind. A mansion is unlikely to quiver or tremble in the wind. Most houses are sturdy enough not to quiver in anything less than a gale. A dwelling isn't specific enough. Hut would be the "right" word to use. In the lesson on the "Right Word," sample lists of words that have certain connotations are given, as well as lists of alternatives to said, good, and bad and samples of "Tone Vocabulary." A writing assignment using the information given is included.
Blank Verse and Free Verse The terms blank verse and free verse are batted around on Writing.Com quite often, but many don't know for sure what these two types of poetry are. They are probably two of the most misunderstood forms of poetry around. The link below will take you to information about each type of poetry, to examples of each, and to an assignment.
Poetry Web Sites and Sources Holly Jahangiri   , who has helped with this newsletter, has also shown me the importance of having web sites, whenever possible, to help writers have more information about a subject. Therefore, I've provided a link to give several poetry web sites and the list of my sources.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Featured Works From Our Members:
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Links to Information About Poetry:
and my favorite poet on Writing.Com - wordstalker ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Writing Prompts: Take one writing "assignment" found in any of the links in the letter from the editor and follow the directions. If anyone finishes a poem from one of the assignments, please send me a link. Viv ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Quote: I have read this week's quote many times in many places, but have never seen a source. If anyone knows one, please let me know. Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery; but today is a gift - the present. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Recommended Reading and Forums:
You are invited to submit suggestions to the Writers' Circle editors. To submit an item for consideration in the WC newsletter: "WC Newsletter Feedback and Submissions"  WC Newsletter Feedback and Submissions [Rated: G] WC newsletter submission, a cheer or jeer, or just want to join the group? Find it here! ******************** |
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